Extended Connections
by AllisonReader
Summary: Before Lynda was a Weathers, she was a Piston, one who was longing to be a Hudson. A journey exploring the extended connections throughout the Cars universe, one shots. Lynda Weathers is Doc's niece AU. Other AUs included. The Slip. What if Doc's secret was let slip before Lightning found him? Titanic AU glimpse.
1. First Road Trip

So, this is something that I've been wanting to do for awhile now, it's been percolating and growing since about September. And I've now worked up the courage to start this, mostly because my desire to share this has been amplified. This is very much inspired by NurfHurdur's stories, it inspired an AU of Lynda Weathers being the daughter of Alexander Piston and that in turn, making her the niece of Doc. Spoiler alert, Doc marries Emily Piston.

So, welcome to this newest collection of one shots inspired by NurfHurdur's lore. For clarification this does mean that yes, all one shots will be humanized, it does not though, mean they will all be a part of the same AU.

* * *

Lynda Piston, had known just who her uncle was for years already. She had always known he was once a racer and that before she was born he had been seriously hurt and those injuries used to flare up on him, causing him great pain.

Then when she was about 12 she had overheard her aunt and uncle talking about him racing and 51 being a taboo between her father and uncle. At the time she hadn't understood the shared animosity between the two. She remembered in particular asking her uncle that if 51 was such a big taboo for him and her father, why couldn't they use that as a rallying point to get along? She was told it was a taboo for two very different reasons, so it wouldn't help at all; probably make things worse truthfully. She had dropped it for the time being; until she went home, that was.

Then she researched her father, her uncle, the number 51 and Hudson Hornet since it was said her uncle raced his Hornet; and if nobody was around he'd drive it around Willie's Butte, just outside of Radiator Springs where her aunt and uncle live, for her and her brothers. When she was researching she hadn't known what she was going to find, but she knew even at age 12, it wouldn't be what her father implied about her uncle.

Stephen had been telling her for a few years not to believe everything their father would say, pointing out that he liked to stretch the truth to fit the way he thought it should. So, she learned her Uncle Jesse was the Fabulous Hudson Hornet.

Everything had clicked into place for her then. Her father, Alexander Piston and her Uncle Jesse had been serious rivals on the track. Not necessarily competition for each other; her uncle being the better driver, but definitely rivals all the same.

It didn't help lessen the animosity at all when her uncle had helped her mom with their divorce, nor did it help that she and Stephen looked to their aunt and uncle as their real parents.

So, here she was in her early 20's, never having admitted to anyone that wasn't close family, that her uncle was the number 51 Fabulous Hudson Hornet. And now, on her first road trip with her boyfriend, she was breaking her silence on the subject.

To the public, her uncle was known as Doctor Aaron Hudson, who had never been seen. Her uncle wanting nothing to do with the press or the racing world. For as long as she could remember, anything in public, it was Uncle Aaron, and that's all her serious boyfriend sitting beside her, knew him as.

Her boyfriend was a racer much to her father's chagrin; which was ironic to her, since he had raced himself. Bernie had gone to school with him and had shared classes with him. Bernie had also pointed out the year before already that if he was ever going to meet their uncle, she'd have to tell him who their uncle was. Because in Bernie's words 'there was no way in _hell_ , Strip Weathers wouldn't recognize him. He _had_ done a report in school on the Fabulous Hudson Hornet.' She knew Bernie was right about that.

Strip had met her aunt after that conversation with her brother; at a racing event, where her aunt had invited the two of them to visit.

A year later and here they were; doing just that after finally getting the chance to go. Her Aunt Emily was excited that they were coming and both her aunt and uncle were under no disillusions that he wasn't going to be recognized. After Strip had given his school presentation, the next time Bernie had visited their aunt and uncle, he wouldn't shut up about the fact that his classmate; Strip Weathers, had done a report on Uncle Jesse.

She _knew_ she had been procrastinating about telling Strip about her uncle, and now that they were in the car driving there, she had to tell him, _before_ they got to Radiator Springs.

She had been nervous since before they left and had offered to drive. That way she had something more than her nerves to concentrate on. Strip didn't mind that, they could always switch out when she got tired.

She felt like a complete bundle of nerves and it showed. She couldn't help drumming her fingers on the steering wheel as she drove.

Why should she feel so nervous? She was only taking her boyfriend of about three years to meet the people she thought of as her real parents. One of those being Strip's inspiration to become a racer.

Yeah, there was nothing to worry about; at all, _right_.

She decided to lead into talking about who her uncle was after telling a few childhood stories about her aunt and uncle. Which would lead her into who her uncle was and how she figured it out. With an idea now of how to broach the subject she felt herself calm and was able to stop drumming her fingers.

She could do this, this trip was going to be just fine. Her aunt already adored Strip, Stephen liked him, Bernie could tolerate his former classmate, her mom was seemingly fine about him. Bernie had said their father would be a fight, but her Uncle Jesse, she suspected would get along well with Strip, if he didn't let his bitterness about the racing world get in the way.

It was a strangely exciting, but nerve wracking thought that soon Strip and her Uncle Jesse would be meeting. With that last thought she started telling stories about her true parents.

Strip Weathers was feeling incredibly nervous. He was on a road trip with his girlfriend Lynda Piston; their very first, to meet her aunt and uncle. He wasn't overly nervous about meeting her aunt as Lyn had introduced him to her last year at a racing event.

It wasn't something that happened much now days. Emily Piston, well technically Emily Hudson was her married name; though the racing world still often referred to her by her maiden name, rarely came to events anymore. Citing her desire for a slower, less press, small town style of life.

Lyn had been so excited to introduce him to her aunt. She had admitted to him that her aunt and uncle were more her parents to her and Stephen than their parents were.

At the time he remembers being apprehensive, wondering if she'd be anything like her brother. Alexander Piston had always made him uncomfortable, like he was a bug to be squished and that was before he had ever started dating Lynda.

Much to his relief, she was nothing like her brother and they ended up getting along well. He had tried calling her Mrs. Hudson, but she insisted that he call her Emily. By the end of the night, Emily was inviting them to come and visit sometime.

About a year later and here they were, on their way to see Lyn's aunt and uncle. Lyn had insisted on driving, which was fine by him, maybe it would help calm her nerves.

While they were both lost in thoughts in the beginning of the drive he couldn't help, but notice how nervous she was. He had never seen her so nervous before, not even when meeting his parents. She was drumming her fingers on the steering wheel and when she'd glance over to him, she'd give him an almost pained smile. She was jittery and jumping at the smallest things; something was bugging her.

She started to calm down once she started talking. She started off with talking about what she remembered of her parents divorce and that it was because of her Uncle Aaron helping her mom, that Stephen decided to go into law. How during that time she had kept being shuffled around from place to place and that's when she first started to feel like her aunt and uncle were her parents.

She told him how her father wouldn't teach her how to drive and how upset it had made her. Leading to her Uncle Aaron teaching her because he thought everyone should know how to drive.

She fell silent for a moment after that story. He used her break to pass her an open bottle of water, surely her throat was dry after all her talking. She gave him a grateful smile with a murmured thank-you.

He was hoping he'd be able to catch her uncle alone for a few minutes, so he could ask who Lynda thought of as her true dad for his blessing to marry her. He'd still ask Mr. Piston for his blessing too, but he knew it would mean a lot to her to have asked her uncle for her hand.

He took back her water and put it away for the time being.

"Strip?" He heard her ask.

"Yes, Lyn?"

"I have something important I have to tell you before we reach Radiator Springs. I was using those childhood stories to try and lead up into it. It's something, I've never talked about outside of my family. It's what's got me so nervous." She hesitated a moment, once again drumming her fingers on the steering wheel.

"This can't leave this car or Radiator Springs, but my uncle's first name isn't Aaron. It's actually his middle name." She paused again looking away from him before looking back.

"My- my uncle's name is actually Jesse. He's Doctor Jesse Hudson, not Doctor Aaron Hudson." She had stopped again, this time watching him from the corner of her eye, waiting for his response.

It seemed like she was implying that her uncle was the missing Jesse Hudson, driver of the Fabulous Hudson Hornet.

He licked his lips before responding. "As in the driver from the 50's?" he clarified.

She just nodded as she went on to quickly explain how when she was younger she had never understood the sheer amount of animosity between her uncle and her father. The taboo of her uncle's racing career, that was implied by her father to be less than his one Piston Cup. And how when she and her brothers were all visiting together her uncle would drive for them.

Her piecing together enough information for her to research her uncle and later actually talk about what she had come across with her aunt and uncle.

"Bernie had his eyes opened by your presentation in school; you know, about Uncle Jesse. He couldn't get over the fact that our father mightn't have been the most truthful about our uncle's racing career. Or the fact that Uncle Jesse almost died. Aunt Em told me about the fact that Bernard had kept asking her if she knew that. I promise you dad won't be too hard on you about that, mom keeps him in check. He doesn't like to talk about his racing days because of how he was treated after his crash. Uncle Jesse certainly knows who you are, and that you would probably recognize him when you meet him. He's my dad, for all intents and purposes and while in the beginning he might be a bit standoffish, he'll warm up to you. Just, please try and pretend you're not meeting who inspired you to race. Uncle Jesse will appreciate it and it will help him relax quicker if you can school yourself from looking like an awestruck fan."

"I can manage that Lyn." He assured her.

"You won't tell anyone where he is, right? He really doesn't want anything to do with the racing world anymore. I don't know what I'd do if-" he cut her off.

" _Lyn_. Lynda, you know I'd do anything for you? Right, dear?" She nodded. "Then you should know I'll keep your uncle's secret. Outside of this car and Radiator Springs, I'll call him Aaron, just like everyone else, I promise."

"Thank-you, you always seem to know what I need to hear."

"There's not much I wouldn't do for you." He stated shaking his head slightly.

She just smiled at him. "So, you'll switch out driving with me?"

"Of course."

She pulled over to the side of the road and they switched, by the time they were back to driving, they had lapsed into a silence he was glad for. It would give him a chance to process what he had been told before arriving at her aunt's and uncle's, and there was a lot to process.

While he had known for awhile that Lynda had considered her aunt and uncle her parents, it was the first time he had heard her slip and call them mom and dad. Though, he had rarely heard her call Alexander Piston anything other than father, only calling him dad to his face and never the more affectionate daddy.

What took more to process, was the fact that her Uncle Aaron was actually Jesse Hudson; and that he was well aware of the fact that he had done a school project on him. That only made this trip infinitely more awkward and nerve wracking.

He looked over to her, she was leaning against the side window, eyes closed. If she wasn't asleep now, she would be soon.

It just sort of hit him in that moment as he looked back to the road. Not only was he dating racing royalty or at least as close as you could come, seeing as Lynda's family was the driving force behind the Piston Cup, like the name would suggest. Not only that, but her Uncle Aaron; who she always spoke so kindly about, was the legendary, missing, Jesse Hudson. The very same driver of the Fabulous Hudson Hornet; that he did a project on in school, and apparently he knew about it.

This was certainly going to be an interesting trip. Hopefully, by the end of it though, Jesse Hudson wouldn't disapprove of him like Lyn's father seemed to.

* * *

And there we go, we're off to the races now.


	2. A Walk to the Butte

So, now we've met Lynda Weathers before she was a Weathers, but was well on her way to becoming one. Next we're going to be learning about the middle Piston child, with a little on the eldest. Meet Bernard Alexander Piston, who's the most like his parents, and Stephen Edward Piston the oldest of the three.

* * *

He had never understood his siblings desire to always go with their aunt and uncle. He was quite happy just to be around his dad, their dad.

Uncle Jesse was not his father, and it always annoyed him when Uncle Jesse would call him Bernie, that was his dad's nickname for him. The only people other than his dad who he didn't mind calling him that, were his mom and Lynda, since when she was little she couldn't always say Bernard. Stephen could get away with it on occasion, but when he was 12, he had asked his aunt and uncle to only call him Bernard, Bernie was 'babyish'. So, really Bernie was only for immediate family and that mainly being his parents.

He couldn't ever understand why Lynda and Stephen were willing to be parented by people who weren't their parents. It didn't matter if they were related, they weren't his parents, they were his aunt and uncle. Aunts and uncles in his opinion, had about as much authority as a babysitter. You had to listen to them but they didn't have the final say.

Every so often, his dad would drop him off to meet up with his brother and sister at his aunt's and uncle's. His Uncle Jesse could be pretty neat at times; when he wasn't calling him Bernie. Not that he'd ever tell his dad that.

The one thing that they would always do when all three of them were visiting Radiator Springs at the same time, was go down to the track around Willie's Butte. Uncle Jesse would bring his Hudson Hornet out and show off for the three of them. That was always the best part of the trip, and his favourite thing about Uncle Jesse. Because even though his dad had raced, he'd never show them him going around a track.

He had been told that in public to always call Uncle Jesse, Uncle Aaron. When he asked his dad about that, why they had to call Uncle Jesse something different to what they called him in private, he was told that his uncle used to race too, before he crashed.

It was implied that his uncle wasn't the best racer and was too embarrassed by his crash to come back or want to be known about. He had believed that for a long time, making him think that his uncle showing off at the Butte was just a way for his uncle to get some glory.

Until he had a classmate do a project on the Fabulous Hudson Hornet and how he effected Piston Cup.

What his dad had implied was a bit off the mark. From his classmate's presentation he had learned his uncle had been leading the sport before crashing. He had won three cups, had the most wins in a single season ever, and had crashed so badly that people hadn't thought he'd live. His classmate, Strip Weathers, went on to say how after the crash, safety standards changed, to hopefully make racing safer so if a crash like that did happen again it hopefully wouldn't be so bad.

So, apparently his uncle didn't want his fame which he obviously still had and was content just showing off to him and his siblings. It was because of that, that he convinced Stephen to walk out to the Butte with him, leaving 12 year old Lynda behind. He wanted to know what his brother knew about their uncle, he didn't want Lynda to be there though, he didn't think she'd be ready to hear about the crash.

"Stephen, did you know what dad says about Uncle Jesse isn't true?" He asked after they left the confines of town.

"Bernie, most of what father says isn't true." Stephen replied with an eye roll, hands in his pockets.

"Don't call me Bernie. What do you mean?"

"You're my little brother Bernard, you'll always be Bernie to me."

"Not funny Stephen. What do you mean about _dad_?" He glared at his older brother.

"I haven't believed anything that father's told us in _years_ before fact checking it. He's in the habit of spinning the truth his way, to what he wants to believe. He hates Uncle Jesse because he's the opposite of what he tells us about him. I never believed father about Uncle Jesse, it just never felt like Uncle Jesse to me. I've never talked to him about it though, he does know that I don't believe father, or agree with him. I've never understood Bernard your willingness just to believe whatever father says."

"He's dad, why should there _have_ to be a reason. So you knew Uncle Jesse won three cups and how bad his crash was?"

"I did, because what father was saying didn't make sense to me, so I looked into it years ago. I found that Uncle Jesse has his cups hidden in the garage. I found them there with a ton of Piston Cup history and saw newspaper articles on how bad the crash was. I'll show you later if you want.

But look; Bernie, it's great that you're close to father and all, but I _hated_ being shuffled around during mom and father's divorce. You always clung so tight to father, you didn't get as shuffled as much as Lyn and I did." Stephen waved to their uncle as he passed them in the Hornet, with Lynda sitting beside him not paying attention.

"Is that why you let Uncle Jesse and Aunt Emily parent you? And _**stop**_ calling me Bernie." He got another eye roll at asking to stop being called Bernie.

"I've spent more time with them than I have with our _own_ parents Bernard, they feel more like my parents. The last time I've spent any real time with father is at a racing event and he spent the entire time showing me off and gloating about how I'm working towards going to school to be a lawyer. He doesn't even care that the reason I _want_ to be a lawyer is because of what Uncle Jesse did to help mom. Father plays favourites, and you're his, because you do look up to him so much. And I don't call you it often, I think you can let it slide."

"I don't like being called Bernie."

"Pout all you want, it's not going to get you out of being called by your nickname."

They had made it to the Butte shortly after that; where Lynda and Uncle Jesse were standing by the Hornet. The conversation done for the time, it definitely gave him a lot to think about. Stephen's reasons made sense, but his dad was still his dad and nothing would change that. Though, he was curious about what was hiding in his uncle's garage now. He would have to take Stephen up on that offer of being shown what was there.


	3. Joe's Thoughts

So a bit of a different perspective for this one, with Joe Moore. If you're wondering who in the world he is, he's in NurfHurdur's stories, Hard Enough Left and Life's Highway as one of Piston Cup's admin people.

* * *

Joe Moore had known Lynda Weathers since before she was a Weathers. He had watched her grow up from a young girl, and her blossom into a lovely young woman. He had watched her get married to Strip Weathers and then them becoming the premiere couple around the track. Where Lynda was Strip wasn't far behind and vice versa.

Over the years the couple had been nicknamed The King and The Queen of Piston Cup, and it was fitting that they be called so. Lynda had become known as the track mother as she aged and as for Strip, he truly was king of the track, while keeping humble about it. The two of them made the behind the scenes part of racing a friendly place to be, always willing to lead a hand or show someone around.

This race was the last race before retirement for Strip and it wasn't even one that anybody thought he'd race. No one had seen this race coming and certainly not the outcome of it. Who could have predicted that the last race of the season was going to end in a three way tie, leading up to this tiebreaker race; which in turn, ended up having its own set of surprises and upsets.

First it all started with the rookie going missing, his driver turning up at the track missing both the rookie and his stock car. That had made him think about another racer who had disappeared under different circumstances. Though, he suspected he knew where Jesse Hudson was, and it wasn't dead like some were speculating. When the rookie turned up in a town called Radiator Springs; where he was positive that Lynda's aunt and uncle had lived, though he'd have to check with Lynda on that, but he suspected that Jesse Hudson was her uncle and that the rookie would have run into him. Only for that to be confirmed after the race started.

Kids were only so good at keeping secrets and he knew Lynda before she got to the stage that she was good at keeping them. She couldn't have been more than six the first time Alex had brought her with him, he had then promptly forgot about his daughter being there and left her on her own. That didn't sit right with him, and he wasn't someone who had ever really dealt with kids before that, but he knew enough about them that one so young shouldn't be left alone in a public place like that. So, he had taken her under his wing so to speak, he had taken her to get a snack and had asked her questions about racing to see what she knew. He had gotten back some smart answers.

Then she started talking about her Aunt Emily and her Uncle Jesse, 'I mean Uncle Aaron'. She had told him about how her 'Uncle Jes- Aaron' had told her about Louise Nash and how she had beaten her father in one race particular, saying that was one of her favourite stories he'd tell her. That first time, he had looked after her, she always wanted to call her uncle, Jesse instead of Aaron. At the time he just brushed it off, being relieved when she was retrieved by Emily.

That wasn't the last time it happened though and it soon it became a tradition of theirs. Anytime Lynda was brought with her father she always visited with him and on one of the earliest visits with her, she had taken to calling him Uncle Joe, and it stuck.

He was only slightly surprised to get a wedding invitation to hers and Weathers wedding. He had heard the reaction of Alex to Strip asking for Lynda's hand in marriage, and Alex had made it really hard to keep it quiet about him refusing to go to her wedding. It wasn't a surprise for anyone at the wedding, that Alex wasn't there. He had ended up going though, and when he saw who was walking her down the isle his vague suspicions were confirmed; he wasn't going to say anything but Lynda's uncle was indeed Jesse Hudson.

It had given him a bit of a start, when he first recognized just who was walking Lynda down the isle. It may have been almost 30 years since he had last seen Jesse Hudson, but there was no denying that it was him.

Other than that first shock of seeing him and realizing that it was him, it didn't actually surprise him. Not when he had talked to all the Piston kids at one time and them letting something suspicious slip, something that would only make sense if their uncle was Jesse Hudson.

It had been interesting to watch him at Lynda's wedding, showing the tenderness that anyone who really knew him, knew he had, but rarely if ever showed in public. Seeing him and Emily dance together, made him realize just how much the two of them loved each other, it was blatant to see and nobody would be able to dispute it. It made sense as to why Emily never brought her husband to any racing events she did make it to. He would have been swarmed.

After his crash and when he had tried to come back to race, it was handled wrong. It had never sat well with him how much Jesse had been caught off guard. It was mishandled from the beginning, and at the time all he could do was watch, and help separate him from Alex when a physical fight broke out between the two. Alex hadn't helped anything back then and he couldn't blame Jesse for storming out like he had at the time, after it all went down. So, when he went missing a few months later, he was sad it had come to that. It had spread quickly through the Piston Cup grape vine that Hudson wouldn't be back to racing and that he had vanished.

Which brought him back to what Edward Piston had wistfully told him one day, that he had wished there was some way he could have convinced his son-in-law to take over instead of Alex, he would have been a much better fit. Knowing exactly who his son-in-law was, he had to agree that Jesse Hudson would have been a better fit, not that he'd mention that he knew 'Aaron' was actually _Jesse_. Edward's health had been visibly starting to fail at that confession though, so he hadn't put much though into it at the time.

That brought him back to today's race again. The rookie had started off racing poorly and obviously distracted by something. Then part way into the race, he had a phone call from a kid in security saying that a Jesse Hudson had told him to tell him, he needed into pit lane to be #95's crew. The kid also mentioned he had shown up in a Hudson Hornet painted with #51 Fabulous Hudson Hornet on the sides. Well, who was he to deny the Fabulous Hudson Hornet entrance, the rookie needed a crew anyway.

Alex had thrown up a fuss, no surprise there, but it _was_ high time for Jesse Hudson to come back to the sport in some capacity. He hadn't thought that he'd come across Jesse again; especially after Emily passed and it made him think that he should take a tour of the pits after the race, it had been a while since he'd done that. It became a necessity after Strip's crash that he go down there, for Lynda's sake of course, not to check on a man he hadn't talked to in over 50 years, but had been in a crash that had certainly looked similar.


	4. A Step to Engagment

Strip centric on this one, dealing with his wife-to-be's family in part. This chapter also officially makes this my biggest story I've ever posted, and we're just beginning.

* * *

Strip Weathers was nervous, or was intimidated a better word for the pit of dread forming in his stomach.

It had been a couple of weeks since his road trip with Lynda. It had gone better than he could have hoped, especially with learning that Lyn's uncle was _thee_ Fabulous Hudson Hornet. He had asked Jesse Hudson, the man who Lyn saw as her father figure, for her hand in marriage and he said yes with his blessing.

Even better was the fact that the two of them got along well and it was obvious that, that particularly pleased Lynda that he and her uncle did get along. Whereas her father, he tended to avoid as much as physically possible.

Today though, he had to talk with Alexander Piston. He had a very special date planned for Lyn, and while nothing hinged on this meeting with Mr. Piston, it did need to happen to day.

That was why he was striding with purpose down the office building halls on his way to his girlfriend's father's office. He was in luck, he guessed, he arrived at the office just as Alexander Piston was leaving it. He took a deep breath, it was just like going into a race, he had to keep a calm head.

"Mr. Piston, would you have a moment to talk to me?" He asked.

Alex stopped and airily replied, "sure Weathers, what do you want?"

"Could we go somewhere more private it's more of a personal question?" He asked gesturing around to all the people in the reception area.

"Make it quick." The older man replied waving him into the office he had just vacated. Once the door was closed, he asked his question without beating around the bush.

"I would like to ask you for your blessing to marry your daughter."

"No, absolutely not. My daughter is not marrying a racer like you." The answer was quick and had gained volume as he went on. He was sad that this was was his immediate response but not surprised from what he knew about the man.

Calmly and politely he reiterated. "Mr. Piston, I'm telling you I want to marry your daughter. It's her choice whether she wants to marry me or not. I am not asking your permission, just for your blessing." He inwardly cringed at the volume that was returned at what he had just said.

"You're not getting my blessing, and sure as _**hell**_ , not my permission. I forbid it. You will not ask her, you will leave my daughter alone!"

His own voice took on a steely tone, he didn't raise his voice and remained calm, talking at the same pace as before. "Well, I got the blessing that matters the most, and what you say doesn't really matter anyhow. She's a legal adult who can make her own decisions. Her Uncle Aaron gave me his blessing and that's the one that counts. Yours doesn't, I'm asking out of courtesy and it's what done. You're the only one throwing up a fuss. Both him and her aunt are very accepting and so is her mother. She'll be heartbroken but her real father gave me his blessing, which was more than I could hope for. Good day Mr. Piston."

He left the man stuttering and was out the office with the door closed again before he could say anything else.

His heart was pounding from that, he wouldn't look anyone in the reception in the eye. He had played with fire at the end there, but it had needed to be said. Hopefully it wouldn't end up burning him.

He felt shaken from the experience and hadn't noticed that Joe Moore had led him into a different office; one with a couch in it, and got him to sit down on it. The next thing he noticed was a low conversation just outside the door as he calmed down.

"Just was talking with Alex, think it had something to do with Lynda not racing."

"Thank you Joe, I'll speak with the lad." The door opened and Edward Piston entered, with a bottle of water. "Here son, figured you could use this." As he handed him the bottle as he sat across from him.

"Thank you sir." He replied, opening the bottle and taking a sip.

"Would you like to tell me what that hullabaloo was back there that my son was creating now?" The elder man was serious, but not accusing.

"Yes sir. I was asking for his blessing to marry your granddaughter, sir. I have already spoken with her mother, and perhaps in Lynda's eyes more importantly her Aunt Emily and Uncle Aaron. Except for her father, everyone has been most supportive. I plan on asking her tomorrow."

"You know lad, you can call him by his name when it's just us."

He shook his head in disagreement,"no sir, I promised Lyn I would only refer to him as Aaron outside of her car and Radiator Springs. I intend to keep that promise."

"Well, you can count one more in your well wishers. You're a good lad, you'll do well by her."

"Thank you sir." He followed Mr. Piston's own movement of getting up.

"Now I'm sure you want to be away from here, so off you go. Don't worry about her father, I'll keep him away from her until you get your chance to propose to her."

"Thank you sir." He shook his hand before he left. He may not have gotten her father's blessing, but he practically got her grandfather's, which felt like an equal trade. He respected the elder Piston more anyway.


	5. Everything Part 1

In all honesty, this one was already pretty much written for the most part in September and has played a big part in creating head cannon for this story. Before we knew Stephen's name and before I had ever mentioned Lynda being Doc's niece, but the idea was there. So this one, sort of kick-started it all.

* * *

When I originally typed this one out, I was watching Cars just at the time they were playing Our Town, it made me tear up. So, if you want some extra feels Our Town or even Find Yourself will do the job. Or completely avoid them so you don't have to deal with the extra feels. Otherwise, because I'm missing Lightning, have a Sally and Lightning moment. And it is called part 1 for a reason there will be another one shot connected to this one coming.

They were sitting in their regular booth at Flo's having lunch. Unfortunately, it was a little more serious than normal. Sally had just finished dealing with a bunch of legal stuff that had needed to be done the day before. Which is why she had a large brown envelope sitting on the table beside her.

They had finished eating already and now he was waiting to hear what she had to say. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. She started softly, only really speaking loud enough for him to hear across the booth.

"Lightning, he left you everything." He couldn't really believe what he was hearing; he had to clarify.

"Everything? Including the-" he choked, he couldn't say it, but Sally confirmed it.

"Including the Hornet. You were important to him." She paused a moment before carrying on. "I've got all of his keys here for you." She had picked up the envelope, shaking it a little before placing it back down where she had it.

"Did you know he was leaving me everything?" He had to know if Sally had been keeping that from him.

She just shook her head slightly before answering. "No, but I did expect it. Doc didn't have me work on his will; he had his nephew Stephen, who's a lawyer also, work on it." That seemed almost cruel for Doc to have his nephew work on such a thing, when someone not even related to them was getting everything.

He was sure his shock, doubt and disbelief came through what he asked next. "And he was alright with me getting everything?"

Sally picked up on his concerns he wasn't right out sharing. With a bit of a shrug, she explained a little. "I had talked to him about it and from what I understood, was that he and Lynda had been encouraging him to give you everything. Saying something about how his brother wouldn't care and that you would appreciate it as much, if not more than they would."

"But they were actually his family!" He couldn't help to exclaim, they should at least get something. They knew him longer.

"Lightning, they understand that you might be concerned about that. So, they said that anytime you might want to talk with them, the three of you can arrange a time to do so." His mind was racing, it didn't feel real, but that talk would certainly make him feel better knowing that he could at least ask them himself.

"Alright." He paused for a moment. "Can I have the keys then?" Maybe if he took a drive in the Hornet, he could clear his head.

"Oh, here." She had shook her head as she pushed him the envelope, obviously just as out of it as him. When he had the envelope in hand he nervously fiddled with it as he told Sally his plan, sort of.

"I-I think I'm going to take a drive."

"In the Hornet?" She asked clarifying for herself.

He echoed her in confirmation. "In the Hornet."

"Stickers? Will you be alright?" The unsaid do you want me there, was implied.

"Yeah, I just... yeah I'll be fine Sal." He hadn't known what he was going to say there, but she had understood, he gave her hand a squeeze before he got up. "Thanks Sally." She just nodded back at him.

He left Flo's and slowly walked over to Doc's. As much as he wanted to take the hornet for a drive, he was hesitant.

Which was why he had left his car at Flo's and walked the short distance over. It was also why he was just standing and staring at Doc's garage doors, unchanged yet, since he had passed. Staring at the No Entry, No Trespassing, and Do Not Enter signs, it left him with the feeling of it being more ominous and like there would be more dire consequences for entering now, than before. Even though; technically, it was his now. The apartment, the clinic, the garage with it's numerous signs on the doors... and the Hudson Hornet.

He was still standing outside though, he hadn't even moved to open the doors yet. What he _should_ do was just open them and get it done with. So that he could go inside already, except now that he was the owner by name, even just thinking about entering, felt more like trespassing than any of the times he had trespassed. He finally went and opened the garage doors. Since he had been thinking about trespassing, he decided he might as well finish the feeling by going into the once forbidden place.

He turned on the lights first, not quite ready to face the Hornet yet. How many hours had he and Doc spent in here? Looking over the Piston Cup history he had hidden away in here.

Now, he turned to inspect the Hornet. Silently he walked around it, checking the air in the tires and noting how a thin layer of dust was starting to coat the Hudson. He ran this thumb over on of the emblems and sighed.

"I'd much rather this all still be yours Doc." He said to the empty space around him. He really would prefer for Doc to still be there, telling him just exactly what he could or couldn't do with the Hornet.

He couldn't find it in him to get into the Hornet quite yet, and found himself leaning against the one work bench, staring at the Hornet. He would take it for a drive yet today, he just... needed to work up the; for a lack of a better word, the courage to.

It felt wrong _not_ to be asking Doc for the keys, the chance to drive, or to just go for a drive with him. He wondered what kind of stories the Hornet would tell if it could talk. Would it tell of the first time it went home with Doc, or the first race they won? What would it's take have been on the crash or finding Radiator Springs?

He sighed again, moving from where he was, finally getting into the Hornet; finding Doc's aviators left on the dash from the last time he would have worn them. It brought tears welling to his eyes, but he blinked them back for the time being. He couldn't drive if he was going to cry, it would have to be one or the other. He was going to drive, that's what he had come to do.

He started the Hornet and decided to drive over to the Butte. He didn't drive fast and if anything, he probably drove under the speed limit; which for him, was a very rare thing to do. He was feeling a bit overwhelmed right now, so going slow felt more reasonable. He parked on the edge of the ridge overlooking the Butte. He turned off the engine and just sat there completely lost in thought.

It was a couple of hours later when Sally found him leaning back against the front of the Hudson, arms crossed, staring out at the Butte, wearing Doc's aviators. Sally slid in beside him, gently nudging him with her hip. "I thought you were going for a _drive_?" She asked.

"I _did_. I drove to the _Butte_." He replied gesturing to the view in front of them. Both of them remained quit for a moment before he spoke again. "I miss him Sally. He's barely been gone, but... I miss him already." He had looked towards her when he had spoke, but now he was back to looking at the Butte.

"Oh Stickers." She sighed. "He was practically your dad, of course you miss him. I miss him too. You will probably always miss him. There will be days that you don't really think about him and are happy. Then there will be days when you realize that he's gone and never coming back, but it will be okay. We're all grieving right, now, and I haven't seen everyone this subdued since Emily passed, but it will become manageable. Right now everything is fresh and you learned that Doc gave you everything he owned, but you're not going through this alone. We're all in this together as a town. We all support each other when we need it. Right?" She was staring at him when he turned to respond back to her.

"Right. Thanks Sally." She gave him a bit of a smile as they lapsed into silence for a few minutes while looking at the Butte. One of them grabbed the other's hand and gave it a squeeze, he wasn't sure if it had been him or Sally though. Sally ended up being the first to break the silence. While rubbing his hand with her thumb she spoke.

"You'll have to go through everything of his." He didn't change position, though he could feel her looking at him.

"I know."

"You don't have to do it alone." She prompted.

"I know." Looking towards her again he continued. "You'll help me with the apartment, right?"

"Of course." She gave his hand a squeeze. "I can help with the garage too, if you want."

He didn't like that idea, he licked his lips. "I-I think I'm going to do that alone."

"Okay, that's fine."

He felt the need to explain why. "I just... it feels like it''s something I have to do myself. It was Doc's place of retreat, sort of a sanctuary for him, and I was the only one who would really interrupt and disturb him there, where I wouldn't leave him alone. Is it weird that I feel like his garage is more intimate spot for him than his actual apartment where he lived?"

"No, it's not weird. It makes sense, in particular for you. He hid a big part of his past there, the things he avoided talking about. It's also where you learned about who he was and in turn the two of you ended up spending a lot of time there. It became a special place for both of you." He gave her half a smile, before once again looking out at the Butte and back.

"I'd like to have that conversation with Stephen and Lynda."

"Alright, we can set that up."

"Thanks Sally."

"Anytime Stickers, anytime."

* * *

Was that enough sad feels for everyone? I know it is for me, but there is a part 2 and it will be equally as bad.


	6. Everything Part 2

So, welcome to Everything Part 2, and yes, you will probably find that there is an equal amount of feels in this one. The original part of this one was written almost right after Part 1 all the way back in September 2017, because I apparently needed a follow up. Enjoy the bitter-sweetness that will be there.

* * *

It had been almost six months since Sally had told him that Doc had left him everything.

During then he had talked with Stephen Piston and Lynda Weathers, Doc's one nephew and niece. They had both assured him that they had spent more than one day with their uncle going through photos, nick-knacks, and other belongings, to gather what they wanted.

Truthfully, they were going to treasure those days reminiscing with their uncle more than anything they had picked out to keep. And neither of them needed any of their uncle's Piston Cup stuff, they had more than enough from their grandfather and father, not to mention for Lynda everything that Strip had collected over the years.

They had also pointed out that their brother had never been overly close with their aunt and uncle, so he didn't want anything himself. While that was certainly reassuring to hear, he told them that if there ever was something they wanted to just let him know and he would give it to them.

They had just shared a look with each other after he had said that. Lynda explained to him, he was practically their cousin. They saw him as family because their uncle had treated him as such. It only felt right to them that he would get everything; besides, they knew it was being left in good, caring hands. That meant just as much to them as anything else.

Since then, he hadn't yet looked at anything other than the Hornet and Doc's aviators, which he had taken from the Hornet. When he woke up that morning he decided he wanted to be alone, but before he could, he had to meet up for breakfast with Sally. It was not something he could just blow off, even with the way he was feeling.

It was one of those days where he woke up missing Doc something ferociously; he had actually woken up with tears in his eyes and it was definitely why he wanted to be alone today. It felt like it would be a good day to finally go to the garage and start to work. Maybe sorting through Doc's old stuff would help ease his ache and help him feel closer to Doc again. If not, he could at least pretend that Doc was there with him. But first, breakfast with Sally.

Sally had beaten him there and was already in their regular booth.

oOo

Sally could tell something was up when Lightning entered. He sat across from her, his face set in determination, so she wasn't all that surprised when good morning was not the first thing that left his mouth.

"I'm going to start sorting through some of the boxes in Doc's garage."

"Do you want any help?" She asked even though she figured she knew what his answer would be. He just shook his head.

"I just want to be alone today and looking through Doc's old stuff will at least make the day a little productive." In other words he was missing Doc and was hoping being around his stuff would help. She wouldn't say any of that though.

"Okay. Just come and get me if you need anything. Alright?"

"Of course, thank-you Sally." He had looked relieved at what she had said and she had understood everything that thank-you had meant. For not prying, not inviting herself to help him, for understanding that he needed to do this himself, but still willing to be there if he did end up needing her.

Their breakfast ended up being rather subdued, due to Lightning's mood. She hoped for his sake that he would get something out of working in Doc's garage today. Lightning gave her a kiss on the temple before he left.

oOo

This time, he didn't hesitate before going into the garage and turning on the lights. He did debate with himself on whether to leave the garage doors open while he worked or not. He decided against leaving the doors open; he didn't want people to be able to watch him while he worked, not when there was a high possibility of tears. Besides he could always open them later if it started to feel stuffy.

After looking around trying to figure out where to even start, he decided to start with a small pile of boxes by Doc's desk. There were only three of them, none of them were labelled, and the top two were comparatively light in comparison to the bottom box. He started with the light boxes.

Neither of them ended up having much in them, but he removed everything from the boxes anyway. The one box seemed to have stuff relating to his first week in Radiator Springs. A few newspaper articles from his rookie year with pages printed off from web searches about him; all covered in Doc's handwriting. Doc must have done a lot of research on him from all the notes he had.

It was no wonder why then Doc hadn't been concerned about their little race, he knew that dirt at the time, was a foreign concept to him. He would have to read what Doc had thought about him, he was pretty sure it wasn't going to be flattering. Though, right now he was too interested in what else there was to find though to read them.

In that first box there was also a few VHS tapes for the town's old shared video camera. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what was on them. They all were labelled with his name on them and things like; 'McQueen's best fit', 'McQueen's dousing by Red', 'McQueen meets cactus' (he had a high suspicion he knew what that one entailed of) and one proclaiming 'Winner, Doc's best caught Lightning fit.'

He was going to have to see what Sally was going to say about those, because it seemed like they had filmed his embarrassing first week behaviour. He put those to the side for now and moved onto the second box.

This one mainly seemed to contain a couple of Rust-eze ball caps, a couple of red foam fingers that said McQueen's #1 and a couple of banners that said similar things. He didn't know why Doc had the banner's and foam fingers, or why he was the one holding onto those tapes but otherwise it wasn't anything unexpected.

When he opened the next box though; the heavy one, he got a bit of a surprise. It wasn't the fact that it was filled with notebooks or what appeared to be a couple of photo albums, and some old labelled film reels; with one looking like it was simply labelled '54 Crash. By themselves he wouldn't have thought the contents were all that surprising.

No, what made it surprising was that taped to the top notebook was a note; a note, addressed strictly to him. He was the only one Doc ever addressed as Hot Rod. When he decided to do this, he hadn't thought he'd come across anything like this.

It brought tears to his eyes when he read it and he let out a bit of a strangled laugh before responding out loud. "Hey Doc, it's been awhile, but hey, I actually stayed out of your stuff for once."

He scoffed a bit as he re-read the note again. He didn't think it could come across as anymore Doc than that, leaving him feeling like Doc was right there with him.

He was honestly considering having the note framed. He read it once more.

 _Hot Rod, if you're reading this you've either been snooping through my stuff again, or I'm dead and it's all yours now. You'll be pleased to know that after our little talk about setting the story straight, I wrote out my life story for you. So, kiddo set the record straight for me, but don't abuse it. And don't you dare scratch the Hornet, it may be yours now, but I will find a way to make your life hard if you do._

 _Doc_

He shook his head with a faint smile.

He was going to read those notebooks, but he wasn't going to read them in the garage. He wanted to keep this discovery to himself, just for a bit, though too. So, he grabbed the box and let himself into Doc's now very dusty apartment.

It was easy to see that no one had been in the apartment since Flo had cleared out all the food stuff. He felt it was only fitting that this being his first time back since Doc passed was after he had gone through some of Doc's stuff.

He settled himself on Doc's couch and started reading, he only took small breaks to either get himself a glass of water or go to the washroom. While he was reading he had become so immersed in Doc's life story that he had completely lost track of time and almost nothing, but what he was reading registered.

Once he had finished reading everything Doc had written, he felt like he knew him so much better than he ever had before. He knew even before he was even done reading everything that he wanted to get it published; he was going to have to type it up before then though.

He also wanted to share it with everyone in town first, before he did that too. Showing Stephen, Lynda and Strip would be a good idea as well. Though _he_ loved hearing about a young Strip Weathers meeting Doc for the first time; with both of them being aware of a school project done on the older man, by the younger; he didn't know what the King would think of that. But even before all that, he'd like to read it a couple more times and type it out before he shared it.

His stomach growled at him and he looked at the time for the first time since he had started reading. He grimaced, it was late, later than he though it was. He hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, and it was well into the evening now.

Sally was going to kill him for not eating; but maybe if he brought those tapes from earlier with him, to ask her about them, it would distract her enough that he could eat without too much of a scolding. For now though, he'd leave the box of journals in the apartment where they'd be safe from prying eyes. He wasn't quite ready to share them, just yet.

It was time to go face Sally's wrath and try to appease her, with what was sure to be embarrassing moments with him.

* * *

Truthfully, this was written because I had written Doc's note while originally writing part one and Lightning needed a way to see it.


	7. Wedding Dance

So, I was going to hold off on this chapter for a bit, but I've changed my mind. This chapter takes place in 1983 and that is an important point. So enjoy and make sure to read the bottom author's note for this one as I'll explain why I say it being 1983 is an important point.

* * *

She couldn't be any happier than to be where she was right now; dancing in her dad's arms. That alone was worth the pain of her father boycotting her wedding from the moment she got engaged.

If she was being honest with herself though, she was relieved that her father wasn't here. She certainly would not have been enjoying her father-daughter dance nearly as much. It would have been an awkward time, where she would not have wanted to wait, until she could switch into her new husband's waiting arms. As it was though, she was dancing with her Uncle Jesse, which would _not_ have happened if her father was there.

She had always felt safe and loved in his arms. She was resting her head on his shoulder and basking in the warmth of her proper dad, loving the fact she was practically proclaiming her Uncle Jesse as her dad.

"What're you thinking about Lyn? It doesn't matter how old you get or the fact that you're smiling, I recognize that look as your thinking face."

"Dad!"

"Can't I hear my little Lyn's thoughts on her wedding day? Hmmm? What's got you so thoughtful?"

"Just how glad I am that you're here. Thank-you for doing this for me daddy. It means so much to me that you're here and that you walked me down the isle." She snuggled deeper into his shoulder.

"I couldn't say no to my daughter, now could I?"

"Mom would never have relented until you did."

"I wouldn't have missed this day for the world. Even if your father was here."

"I'm glad he's not. Then I wouldn't have been able to do this with you."

"Well, later I guess I'll just have to steal another dance now won't I."

"As long as I see you and Aunt Em dance, Uncle Jesse."

"Of course I will dance with her. Do you know how hard of a time she'd give me if I didn't?"

"Yes," she said with a giggle.

"Looks like we're coming to the end of our song, best we start dancing over to your husband."

"You'll definitely have to steal me back for a couple more dances daddy, because I'm enjoying this far too much for our dance to be over already."

"Well, if you hadn't spent the first part of it so lost in thought, we could have spent it talking."

"Uncle Jesse! That's no fair, I had been enjoying that part just as much."

"I know you were." He kissed the top of her head as the song finished. He kept an arm around her as they walked to meet Strip as he walked towards them.

"You take care of my daughter. I'm going to be coming back for her. I want another couple of dances with her."

"Yes sir, I plan on taking care of her for the rest of my years and not a second before that will I stop."

"That's what I like to hear. Now I believe you two have a first dance that you have to start." She gave her uncle a hug.

"I love you Uncle Jesse."

"I love you too, Lyn." He shook Strip's hand.

"Thank-you sir for so willingly to share Lyn with you and her family."

"Strip, we're family now, just Jesse is fine. You could even call me Doc like everyone back in town does if that's easier, but calling me sir is not needed." He said clapping the younger man on the back. "You're a good man, treat her well."

"I wouldn't want to do anything else."

"Dad, just go invite mom for a dance so Strip and I can have our first dance. Remember I want to see you two dancing."

"Yes Lyn, I know, I'm going. Don't trust the Piston woman you married Strip they have a tendency to get what they want." He said as he left. She just shook her head at her uncle's mock warning.

"Strip, let's always make sure to dance in the kitchen." She said as they started their first dance as husband and wife.

"Is that something your aunt and uncle do?"

"It is. I've caught them at it a few times over the years. It's one of the loveliest things to watch. For a young girl watching them dance together like that, was magical, especially with who my parents are and how they acted. The love for each other that can be seen is inspiring, because Uncle Jesse's guard actually lowers."

"Lynda, I promise you we'll dance in the kitchen, and always continue to foster our love everyday of our marriage. You needn't fear becoming like your mother and father, we're nothing like them. Besides, we'll use your real parents as an example."

"Talking about dad what did you tell Darrell to get him to not hound him?"

"Just because someone looks like Jesse Hudson, doesn't mean that's who he is."

"You implied my uncle isn't who he seems to be; when that's exactly who he is?"

"I left it very open ended, neither confirming or denying who he is other than he is your uncle. I told ya before we got engaged, I'd keep your uncle's secret, our wedding doesn't change anything about that." She gave him a kiss at that, which made everyone cheer as their song ended.

As her bridesmaids and the groomsmen joined them on the dance floor to start everyone dancing she could see her uncle asking her aunt to dance and it made her smile even bigger as her aunt accepted. As she and Strip started to dance again, she pointed out her dancing parents and how much in love they looked.

It completely warmed her heart to see. That was going to be her and Strip, she knew it. Her grandfather had even said how much more their relationship was like her aunt's than her father's ever was already.

"So Lynda, is our wedding everything you hoped for?"

"Everything and more, husband dearest. I got to marry you today. I practically have declared to everyone here that I claim my uncle as my dad with him walking me down the isle and giving me away, not to forget the father-daughter dance. I get to see my uncle and aunt dance, and just be here. I don't have to worry about my father starting anything. Uncle Joe made it, grandfather is here. Mother is making sure everything is running smoothly so we don't have to. My brothers are here, your family is here, things couldn't be better." she sighed now resting her head on her husband's shoulder.

The evening seemed to speed by, her uncle did indeed come back to steal her away for a couple more dances and each time he did so Strip had offered to dance with her aunt, which she accepted.

By the end of the night, she was extremely tired, but completely content with how her wedding day went. She was a Weathers now and she hoped her maiden name wasn't going to follow her like it did for her aunt. Only time would tell, but it wasn't something she was going to worry about on her wedding night.

The best part truly was that she got to go home with her new husband Strip; that was all that matter right now.

* * *

So my lovelies, particularly my lovely reviewers, some of you know what this chapter means. The next possibly 14 chapters will not be jumping around to just any time period or moment that catches my fancy and will instead be going chronologically. We are diving into a roller coaster of an AU. Let's have some fun and hopefully I'll give you a bit of a shock along the way. Hopefully you guys will be as excited as I am.


	8. The Slip

And so it begins...

* * *

Joe had read the article detailing the interview Alex had done for his father. There was more than a few things in it that had made him raise his eyebrows, but what had made him pause the most was that he let slip his brother-in-law's name. He could just see that causing complications since he hadn't even seemed to try and correct the slip.

When he saw Alex come in, he grabbed him by the arm, looked him in the eye and told him lowly, "I don't know what you're pulling, or what you think it's going to do, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you just might have started a mess."

Alex only shook him off before saying with a bit of a glare, "I don't know what you're talking about Joe, I've done nothing wrong." Alex had then entered his office and closed the door behind him.

Yeah, nothing wrong.

Maybe nothing wrong per-say, but he had heard _that_ before; before having to clean up a mess of his. If they were lucky, nothing would come from the article. That seemed unlikely to him though, he felt a headache forming already.

February 21, 1984

Piston's Year at a Quick Glance

We were joined today by Alexander Piston for our annual year at a glance interview, where we usually take a look back at the previous year and ahead to the new year. In past years we've always held this interview with Alexander's father, Edward Piston.

"Thank-you for joining us today Alex. For curiosity's sake, could you tell us if there is any particular reason that we get your presence instead of your father's?"

"My father is wanting to slowly retire and as such, is handing the responsibilities that he has previously handled himself, such as this, over to me."

"Before we look ahead to this year, let's take a glance back at last year. It must have been exciting to see your youngest, who's your only daughter, tie the knot with racer Strip Weathers. You must be happy for her and to be adding such a talented young man to the family?"

"Oh, absolutely delighted, he makes Lynda happy and that's all that can be asked for. Her mother was tickled pink that she got to play wedding planner."

"Now, how did you think the race season went last year?"

"The season went well on all fronts, it was a successful year. We should hope this year goes just as well as last."

"Well, let's move on to looking at this year then. We just have to ask, even though your sister and her husband have asked to remain out of the public eye, will we be seeing either of them at any of the events this year? Or can you say anything about why we never see or hear about your brother-in-law?"

"No, my brother-in-law will not be at any of the events, but Emily usually tries to make it to at least one event for our parents. As to why my brother-in-law is so secretive about being seen or heard from, all I _have_ to say about it, is all I _can_ say about it. I have never cared much for him. Jesse had his time in the spotlight and he's just sore that he doesn't get any attention anymore."

"What do you mean by that? And why did you just call him Jesse? I thought your brother-in-law's name was Aaron?"

"Oh, did I call him Jesse? My mistake then, either way though, I've never much cared for my brother-in-law. Bit of a glory hog really, but let's move on. We were talking about the upcoming year, weren't we?"

"Ah, yes we were. With this year being the 30th anniversary since the Fabulous Hudson Hornet's crash, will anything be done to commemorate the tragic event?"

"It's not that tragic, Hudson did survive the crash, it only ended his career; but yes there will be something done. While I can't say exactly what is planned for it, there is going to be something. I expect there will be a fair amount of hype surrounding those past events."

"Ah, thank you Alexander Piston for that interesting interview. We'll be looking forward to next year's interview with you."

February 24, 1984

Quick Questions After Glance

We were left with some questions after reading Alexander Piston's interview. Such as why he referred to his brother-in-law as secretive? Or the brush off of calling his brother-in-law Jesse, when he's only ever been referred to as Aaron before. Even the way he talks of his daughter's marriage brings up questions. We would much rather of have had Edward Piston give the interview again this year than Alexander Piston's almost defensive and minimal answers that only added questions not answered them.

February 29, 1984

Could be Coincidence

Now this could be just a coincidence but Emily Piston's married name is Hudson, her brother had a slip of the tongue and called her husband Aaron, Jesse. Was he at the time thinking about Jesse Hudson instead of his brother-in-law Aaron Hudson? It just seems like an odd kind of slip, the two names aren't that similar to be confused for each other. It just leaves us with the question of why confuse those names? Is there some relation between the two? Unless Alexander Piston explains more, we may never know.

March 6, 1984

Aaron, Jesse, Fab Hud Hornet, Same Person or Different

Speculations have been running rampant since Alexander Piston's quote calling his brother-in-law Jesse instead of Aaron. One of the questions that is circulating is; are Jesse and Aaron the same person or are they two different people? If they are the same, does that mean we've found where the Fabulous Hudson Hornet is? Have we been lied to for years about Emily Piston's husband? Why have people been immediately jumping to the fact that Aaron Hudson and Jesse Hudson are the same person, and that he is the Fabulous Hudson Hornet? What does Emily have to say about her hiding who she's married to? None of these questions have been answered so far. We hope that one day these questions will be definitively answered.

March 12, 1984

Missing No More? Jesse Hudson?

It may no longer be a mystery as to where the Fabulous Hudson Hornet has disappeared to. We may have even unknowingly have always known where he is. With Alex Piston giving this quote to the press about his brother-in-law, it sounds like Jesse Hudson just might be married to Emily Piston.

"I never have cared much for him. Jesse had his time in the spotlight and he's just sore that he doesn't get any attention anymore."

Let's go over the facts we do have at the moment as nothing has yet been confirmed. Emily Piston married an Aaron Hudson, at the time he was studying to be a doctor and now is. We have never seen a picture of this man before, or at least not a clear one. Why is that?

We don't know much about him as the Piston family has been notoriously tight lipped about anything regarding the Hudson couple. As to why they are, the only reason that has ever been given is that they want to stay out of the press's spotlight. That could only mean they're hiding something like someone's past life as a Piston driver.

In turn that brings up only more questions. If that is in case why would they want to hide it? Is there truth in that second half of the statement? Better no attention than not the attention he thinks he deserves? Until we get an official statement from the family we will have no definitive answers.

March 16, 1984

Jesse Hudson, Hidden Right Under Our Noses?

Could Jesse Hudson have been hidden under our noses without us realizing it? The answer, yes he could be. To better understand the how, to that answer, we need to look at Jesse Hudson himself.

Jesse Hudson, better known as the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, and is recognized as one of the most influential racers the sport has seen, had gone missing after he had healed from his crash in '54, disappearing in '55. From what we've gathered on supposed sightings on Jesse Hudson is that they focus in on him from the late 50's to early 60's at the same school that 'Aaron' Hudson went to. After that period of time, sightings of Hudson declined greatly.

One classmate of Hudson's gave us a copy of a photo in his year book from '59, in it shows a very clear picture of _Jesse_ Hudson in the middle of a lab presentation. It is extremely obvious that the man in the picture cannot be anyone, but Jesse Hudson. Furthering the proof that the two names refer to the same man.

March 21, 1984

Alexander Piston Confirms Speculations!

Alexander Piston has broken his family's silence of the past few weeks to confirm that his brother-in-law is; indeed, the Fabulous Hudson Hornet. The Hudson's living in the small town of Radiator Springs Arizona; have kept this fact a well hidden secret.

Alex was telling us how no one in the town knew of Jesse Hudson's past, only that he came from the east. He also told us that Hudson had swore the family to secrecy about his name and that's the real reason he's never seen. If his slip of the tongue means the truth is out there, we should be glad of it. It may prove that Hudson is deceitful, but it also proves the wondering of if he was dead is false.

March 30, 1984

Piston's Outrageous Claims Might Be True.

While Alexander Piston's claim that his brother-in-law is Jesse Hudson, driver of the Fabulous Hudson Hornet; may seem far fetched, it seems to hold water. Though the rest of the family has made no comment at this time, there has been evidence that those claims are valid. Past classmates of his in medical school have come forward with yearbook photos of him, and even a professor has come forward claiming that he taught Hudson. With high standing members of society coming forward, it adds a certain validity to the seemingly outrageous claims of Piston.

April 6, 1984

Mysterious No More, Jesse Hudson

While there have been speculations that Jesse Hudson the driver of the Fabulous Hudson Hornet may have been dead, those have been thrown out the door with it recently coming to light that it is untrue. It is, instead true that Jesse Hudson is alive, well, and married to Emily Piston.

The Piston family has been keeping this a secret, even though they have been aware of the rumours that he is dead have spread. There has never even been a statement given before, on whether they knew if he was alive or not.

Any statement that has been given about the Hudson couple has been vague, and gives only the slightest insight on them. When asked about Emily's husband, it didn't matter who it was who was asked, the answer about him was always the same. His name is Aaron Hudson, he's studying to be a doctor on the west coast or he is a doctor, always citing his work comes first.

So, while that may be true, it's obvious that is not actually his name nor does it say anything about his past. What else could they be keeping hidden from us?

April 16, 1984

An Excerpt from 'Alexander Piston Tells All' article in a local newspaper.

"He's been taking advantage of the family for years already. Particularly my sister; ever since he met her, he's been using her. He's completely turned my family against me and yet he's the one they, oh so, carefully protect like a lost kitten. They don't see past that old golden boy facade of his; from his racing days. He wasn't so clean cut even then and father knows that."

He placed down the paper he had been holding, though it was more like he slammed it down on Alex's desk. The latest interview with Alex right on top.

"I don't know what you think you've done, but I can guarantee you, it's not what you think it is." He told him, glaring at the man behind the desk.

Alex hardly glanced at the article and replied "it's going to do exactly what I want it to do. Humiliate and discredit him."

"Don't overestimated what power you have Alex, or it will cost you."

"That's why risks have to be taken."

"Well you've certainly taken a gamble, but in the long run it's not going to pay out. You're going to cost yourself your family the way you're going. He's your brother-in-law, why the sudden need to 'oust' him?"

"He shouldn't have been so presumptuous about taking my place at my daughter's wedding." Alex said darkly, scowling deeply at the thought.

"He wasn't, you refused to go and Lynda turned to her father figure."

April 22, 1984

Questionable Husband Choice

With Piston's latest statement it brings into question Emily Hudson's choice in husband. We all know he's a doctor, that being one of the few things that have been released about him. Until recently that is, with it now having been revealed that Aaron Hudson is actually Jesse Hudson.

We have to wonder how much of what Piston's remarks are true.

Has Jesse Hudson been using his wife's family? If that's the case, should Emily be married to him? Did she knowingly enter a relationship where she is being taken advantage of?

April 24, 1984

Rising Tensions Among Piston Family

The more that comes out, the more we see the tensions among the Piston family rising, showing more discord among them, then they like to show. With every article that comes out about Jesse Hudson, it seems to show a rivalry between the brother-in-laws that has not been left on the race track.

It also has brought to light the tensions between father and daughter, as well as son and father.

It seems Alex is not as delighted about his daughter's marriage to racer Strip Weathers as he claimed to be. Going so far as to actually boycott the couples wedding, leaving Jesse Hudson to fill the spot of giving her away.

As for Alex and his father, in contrast to what he had previously said about him getting more responsibility, he has actually lost many.

April 30, 1984

The Crash; 30 Years Later.

Jesse Hudson took the Piston Cup by storm when he started, immediately billing himself as the Fabulous Hudson Hornet; a name that would become a household name over the four short years he drove.

His first season, he took home the Piston Cup. Just barely missing the title of first rookie to win it, due to having run and won a single race the year before.

His second season not only did he take home his second Piston Cup, but he had the most wins in a single season, a record that is still standing 32 years later.

His third season was a little rougher on him due to multiple factors, but he still managed to push through those and come out with his third Piston Cup.

His fourth season ended up being his last and were his crash not to have happened, he would have walked away with his fourth cup. As it is, we are glad the crash did not take his life like it so nearly did.

While he was not able to return to the sport after his crash, he has moved on to further success. He has gotten married and has been so, happily for 26 years to Emily Piston. He has studied to be a medical professional and has been his town's doctor for 17 years, providing care to a town that would not have so otherwise.

The couple have both been enjoying the quiet life of a successful small town doctor and wife. Let them both live in peace, while they do good for their community.

May 7, 1984

We've Been Lied To

They've been lying to us all, and don't paint Alexander Piston as a saint in all of this either. I've seen the other articles that make him seem like a hero in all this. He's not a hero for bringing this to light. Until this point he's been as silent as the rest of them. That should bring to question, why now?

Why is it after 26 years that the Hudson couple has been married? Could it have something to do with his own failed marriage, while the Hudson's are still married? Or the fact that Alex's daughter has just married Piston Cup racer Strip Weathers last year, who has been compared in demeanour to his old racing rival turned brother-in-law.

Though the Piston family tried to hide it, Alex wasn't at his daughter's wedding. It is unknown whether he was not invited or chose not to go, but they chose to try and hide the fact he wasn't there. It is _not_ a confirmed fact on whether he chose to boycott the wedding or not.

Also, don't forget that this year is the 30th anniversary of the Fabulous Hudson Hornet's career ending crash. Could this whole thing be some kind of sick publicity stunt for the anniversary of the crash? With those events it leads to some of interesting timing of learning Jesse Hudson is Aaron Hudson, Emily Hudson nee Piston's husband.

The entire family is at fault for this ruse, the Hudson's and Piston's both, don't let any of them pull the wool over your eyes. Only the family's youngest members should be considered innocent, all the rest shouldn't.

It should in fact be asked why though, that Jesse Hudson wanted to be unknown. Is it as some people say? That Jesse Hudson finds it better to have no attention than not having the attention he feels he deserves. Or could it be something different, darker, that they don't want you to find out.

We won't know until we get a proper statement from either Edward Piston or Jesse Hudson himself, and not whatever drivel Alexander spits out. But even then, when they do, how can we really trust them to tell the truth after all the years they've been lying to us.


	9. The Slip- Media Nightmare

Now we dive into how it's effecting everyone.

* * *

Her brother had crossed the line. It had seemingly started innocently enough; a possible slip of the tongue, referring to her husband as Jesse instead of Aaron as agreed upon. Not that he did much to try and fix it.

That in turn had left the media questioning just what her brother had said, leading to multiple articles that hit closer and closer to the truth as each one had come out. It left Jesse pulling further and further away from everyone in town until he went into full withdrawal mode. She hadn't seen him this withdrawn since when he first came to town and it hurt to see.

Neither of them were eating or sleeping well, due to the stress of it. Everyone was more worried about Jesse than finding out he had kept a big part of his past from them. They may have been hurt by it, but they cared more about the two of them, than what was hidden from them. They all understood having something in their past they didn't like to talk about; particularly Jon, with who knows what he had seen in the war.

They had all wanted to stage what they were calling an intervention, to show that while a little hurt, they understood and that no matter what this turned out to be, they'd still be there for them.

It had taken her a lot of coaxing to get him to go to Flo's again; including a phone call from Lyn and Stephen, but she did get him there. It ended up seeming like a surprise party with everyone's excitement at seeing him being dragged along with her. They all had been missing their Doc, and they certainly let him know. When they entered Flo's, everyone was standing and had almost let out a cheer, while Mater did cheer.

She nudged him in the ribs softly, just enough to get his attention. "I told you everyone was worried over you."

"We're worried over both of you sugar. It hurts us all to see you like this. We thought you were over this hiding thing." Flo scolded softly. "Jesse, honey, none of us here would have cared, sugar." She finished firmly.

"Yeah man, we wouldn't have treated you any different. You're our Doc, and have been for years already. Nothing is going to change that." Ramone tacked onto his wife's statement.

"Hey man, we're all family here. We all got to stick together man, have each other's backs, man." Fillmore added his say.

"The hippie's right, leave no man behind." Jon said.

"Whoa, man, did we actually agree with each other? Rad." Fillmore said breaking into a hazy grin.

"Give it a break Fillmore, everyone agrees with this." Sarge rubbed the centre of his forehead after rolling his eyes.

"They're right Doc. None of us here, care about what you used to do or be; we know who you are now and we know who Alex is. We don't think anything worse of you, mainly because there's nothing to think worse of you for. We'll standby both of you."

"Thanks Michael, I needed to hear that; from all of you." Jesse addressed the group of his friends.

"No more hiding?" She asked looking straight at her husband.

"No more hiding." He said back.

"Good, we've missed you sugar."

They had all ended up saying something supportive to him by the time they left. It had been a needed moment for everyone and had brought her husband out of hiding. It had gotten them back to a more normal pace of life. Just in time for her brother to completely up end their lives more than before.

They had been keeping quiet in hopes that it would die down and be forgotten about.

But no, her brother _had_ to confirm those speculative articles. And not only that, but had directly said that they lived in Radiator Springs, Arizona. It didn't take long after that article being released for reporters and journalists to show up in town to try to get their next big scoop.

The first couple of times they had been approached in public, had taken them by surprise, but had been rather tame with other people milling around. They had been able to turn them away politely without too much fuss.

When it became apparent that they weren't going to answer questions in public that's when they had people starting to show up at their door to try a more private approach to see if they would break their silence.

In a couple instances they ended up having to call Michael when the person refused to leave when they asked. After those couple of instances, anyone who entered town who wasn't recognized was interrogated to see if they were reporters or journalists. If there was so much of a hint of so, they were denied service and turned away.

There were often phone calls with Lyn and Stephen, both of them concerned and wishing they could be there with them. Neither pleased at what their father had started and wishing they could do more. She was just happy that other than vague mentions the kids were being left out of it.

It was a struggle at times and while Jesse wasn't hiding like he was at the beginning, when he thought everyone in town would be against him, there were still times where together during the day they'd hide from those trying to get their say from them.

It was getting old quick and the only good thing that so far seemed to come out of this was that now everyone in town knew that Jesse had raced and was a well known champion. She didn't know if there would be anything else good to come from it, or if anything else good could come from it.


	10. The Slip- Smokey's Visit

So another longer chapter, Smokey really wanted to have his say.

* * *

He had been trying to convince himself for years that his brother was dead, and that he was never going to know what happened to him.

If his brother was dead, it would explain why he never tried to contact him through letters or with a phone call. If he was dead, it meant he was alone and there was nothing he could do about it. Convincing himself that his brother was dead, seemed like better closure than having the false hope of him being alive and then finding out he was dead.

That all changed though, when the articles started breaking.

His brother was alive.

Not only was he alive, but he was married, and he had unknowingly heard vague updates on him before.

He was positively livid and felt completely duped. He couldn't believe he didn't see past the thin veil that was put up, he should have seen through it, or at least questioned it, but he hadn't.

He was mad at himself, but more to the point he was mad at his brother. He had seen the very first article that started it all and it hadn't clicked in until the other articles started coming out.

Yes, he had heard that Emily Piston had gotten married, and that her married name was now Hudson. Odd coincidence? Maybe, but then how many times did people think Jesse and he had relations to the Hudson Motor Company when they didn't.

Maybe it was because before he saw the name, he had read that Emily's husband was studying to be a doctor on the west coast at the time they got married. Maybe that was why he didn't get a red flag at the name Aaron, because really, Aaron Hudson should have given him a red flag, or at least a hint of one.

They had been referring to Jesse by his middle name; his middle name which was often thrown out whenever his siblings were playfully bantering or scolding each other.

Then near the end of March, an article was printed that said the name of the town that; _the Hudson couple,_ as the articles had started referring to them as, lived. Radiator Springs, Arizona; a couple of hours away from Flagstaff.

He would have left immediately to track down his brother and give him a piece of his mind for deserting him and for letting him think he was the only Hudson sibling left. Except, he was too busy, and with Easter coming up, near the end of April, he had to wait until May. Though that was probably for the best. It let his anger and betrayal settle down a bit. It gave him a chance to talk over his plans with Joan and time to let people know that his garage would be closed for a period in May.

They both agreed that it would be best if he went alone and that they wouldn't tell the others that he was going; because if River, Junior, and Lou knew, they'd want to come and confront Jesse too. This was something he needed to do by himself; besides if he still knew his brother it meant he was going to be in a right mood about everything and he doubted that had changed.

His original plan was that he was going to be gone for about 2 weeks, maybe less depending on his brother. He figured that he'd need approximately a week to travel and figured he'd be spending a week or less in town.

That wasn't what ended up happening though.

He had spent the entire drive there stewing over what he was going to say to his younger brother. Truthfully, what it sounded like, even in his mind, was a parental scolding rather than a brother berating a brother. He still hadn't let go of those parental feelings about his brother.

He arrived in the small town at about supper time; he couldn't hold back his huff of amusement. Out of all the places his kid brother _could_ have ended up in the country, he settled down in the town that not only had connections to the Piston family, but was car themed.

He ended up staying in a motel called The Cozy Cone; where each room was a giant caution cone. One of the town's restaurants was a Flo's V8 Cafe, there was a tire place that had a leaning tower of tires and a few other places as well that had taken inspiration from vehicles.

Once he was booked into the motel and put his belonging in the room he was staying in, he went across the street to eat. He would confront his brother tomorrow, when he was less tired from driving, so he'd have the energy to wring his brother's neck, like he so wanted to.

The people in town were polite and friendly, if not a little wary of him. He had been asked a couple of times since he had entered the town if he was a reporter looking for his next big scoop. He had a feeling that if he had admitted to being a reporter they would have run him right out of town.

As it was, he told them part of the truth. He told them that, no, he wasn't a reporter. He owned a garage back east and that he had come this way in hopes of reconnecting with his brother, who he hadn't seen in years. That seems to put them more at ease. Those articles were certainly effecting a lot of people since they had obviously put a whole town on edge.

While eating at the cafe he had unintentionally heard a conversation concerning his brother.

"No Jesse this evening, Emily?" He heard the woman who served him ask.

"No Flo, and I'll take our usual to go. I would have phoned it in, but he's talking to Lyn. She wishes she could be here with us and probably would be here more often but she just got married last year and doesn't want to leave her husband's side. Not that I blame her, I didn't like being apart from Jesse when he was in school once we were married either. There's not much she'd be able to do here anyway."

"She's holding up okay though?"

"She's pretty much cut ties with Alex, only getting second hand information about him from a friend who has to work with him. I think she's just glad she doesn't have to hide who her uncle is anymore."

"And what does Stephen think about all this, sugar?"

"He's been looking into ways to try and fight all this. It's going to be a long road no matter what happens. Alex just keeps stirring up the pot anytime it seems to even start to tapper off in the slightest. If that doesn't say purposeful, I don't know what does."

"Well, honey, you've got all of us in town here behind you two. If anyone bothers you, we'll run them out of town if need be." That certainly confirmed his thoughts from earlier, They would be willing to run him out of town, if they thought he was disturbing them.

"Thanks Flo."

"You're welcome sugar. But you better tell that man of yours I expect to see him in here, no excuses, you hear me."

"Alright Flo, I'll make sure he gets the message." She grabbed the food that was now ready and left with a goodbye.

So, that was his sister-in-law Emily Piston. She didn't seem to much like her brother. He wasn't sure what tomorrow would bring, but it would be something.

He would have tried to contact him before he came if he didn't think that might make him run, that and he didn't know how to contact him.

Then, that next morning he walked over to where he assumed his brother worked. He didn't know what to expect when he entered the building. It was neat and organized which didn't surprise him; what did was Emily Piston sitting behind the front desk.

"Can I help you? You seem a little lost." She asked him.

"Not so much lost as overwhelmed. I'm out this direction looking for someone." He replied.

"Michael would probably be a better person to ask then, seeing as he's the sheriff in these parts."

"I'm sure he's good at his job, Henry Hudson by the way." He said leaning on the counter extending his hand to be shaken.

"Quite the coincidence, Emily Hudson. I could give Michael a call and see if he could come over to help, if you'd like?" She shook his hand.

"I don't think that will be necessary. It's not as much as a coincidence as you'd think either. I'm actually looking for my brother, a certain Jesse Hudson. I've been lead to believe you might know him."

"Well in that case, I probably will be more helpful than Michael, seeing as I most definitely know him. Wouldn't exactly be a Hudson otherwise, now would I." She smiled a bit ruefully at that.

"No, I suppose you wouldn't." He said with a quick shake of his head.

"I've been waiting a long time to get to meet you, but I just couldn't get him to get in touch with anyone back east." She admitted while having gotten up from behind the desk and started over to a door.

"He always was stubborn like that." He agreed.

"He's hiding in the apartment, right through here, I'll get him for you. I'm sure the two of you have a lot to talk about. This evening we'll take you to Flo's, everyone is expecting to see him again." Emily said leading him through the door.

"Nice place you've got here." He said as he entered, looking around.

"It was in disrepair when Jesse got here, he fixed it up. Looks like he's hiding in the garage instead. Make yourself comfortable in the living room, I'll go get him." She said as she continued through her home.

He looked around the living room taking note of some of the pictures that were sitting around. There were pictures of Jesse and Emily, there were some of three kids, and there was one of his brother handing a bride over to whom he thought was probably the groom. Jesse was shaking the grooms hand, while he still had an arm around the bride. It had been taken so that no one's face was clear in the shot. It left him wondering if they were his kids, then he could hear Emily in the background talking with someone.

"Jesse, really. Would I let a reporter into our home? The answer you're looking for should be no. What if it was daddy? Would you be putting up such a fuss?" She sounded exasperated.

"You would have told me if it was your dad though." He could hear the eye roll from where he was, in that statement.

"Not if I knew he was going to try and beg for you to take over again."

"It's not your dad though, is it?"

"No, it's not daddy, but you do need to speak with him."

"Fine, where is this mystery person?"

"Thank you, he's in the living room." She gave him a kiss on the cheek before he went to find his brother unknowingly.

Emily knew this had the possibility of getting loud or at the very least, heated. She'd leave them be, let them sort everything out themselves at first, and get the venting out of their systems. She left through the garage and went to Flo's to waste time until the two brothers talked out Jesse's little disappearance act.

Henry was still looking at one of the photos of the three kids standing with Jesse in front of a very familiar and dusty Hudson Hornet, when his brother entered the room.

Henry knew as soon as Jesse entered the room, it was him. He didn't want to jump right into the hurt that his brother left him with, so he asked about the kids in the pictures instead. "They yours?"

"Nope, Alex's, but the youngest and oldest might as well be ours, as we ended up practically raising them. Even got to give Lyn away at her wedding last year. You're not hear to talk about my niece and nephews though."

"You've got another couple back east, but you're right that's not why I'm here." He finally turned to look at his brother, he was older which was to be expected when you hadn't seen someone in 29 years. He looked weary and run down, which he could only assume was from the stress of having all the media attention to deal with. He knew he originally came to give his brother a reprimand, but there might be a better time for it.

"I came to give you a good what for, and you deserve it for disappearing like you did, but I can't find it in me to add more to your stress. You're not getting out of it, just... today you look too much like you did before you left."

"Hurt and broken?" Jesse asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Stressed and world weary. Why'd leave Jesse? You're leaving was like dealing with your crash all over again. Didn't know where you were, how you were doing, if you were dead or dying. I've been trying to convince myself for years that you were dead, so I could expect it and not be taken completely by shock. But look how that turned out." He paused a moment before continuing on.

"You've certainly ended up in an interesting place, and the people here obviously care for you. They keep asking me if I'm a reporter trying to my next big scoop. I take it there's been a few of those trying to get an exclusive with you."

"Ever since that article in March, which is how I assume you found me."

"Yep, would have been here sooner but life was too busy until after Easter. I shouldn't have had to though."

"I know." This time Jesse paused, he sighed before expanding his thought, rubbing his hand through his hair.

"It's guilt for not contacting you sooner that's kept me away. I couldn't be back there anymore, not then. It had gotten to be too much with everyone asking constantly about when I was going back; when I wouldn't be. I needed to get away. Not claiming it was right to the rest of you, and as Em's been telling me for years, to just phone or write a letter, even so you'd just know I was alive and unharmed." He paused again.

"Do the others know you're here?" Then as an afterthought asked another question. "Are you still in contact with them?"

"Unlike you, I am. They're all still around Thomasville, actually. And no, they don't know I'm here. Joan and I thought it would be better if it was just me at first."

"Joan, as in Joan Williams?" Jesse started to smirk at that.

"Did I know any other Joan's?" He just raised his eyebrows in return.

"No, and I am grateful that everyone's _not_ here to gang up on me all at once, even though I deserve it."

"You do, at least you can admit it, and I'm sure you won't get out of being mobbed by them."

"I'm sure Em will enjoy that, when it happens. She's always wanted to meet everyone."

"How'd you end up here anyway?"

"A flat tire just outside of town at about 2 or 3 in the morning. Michael came across me as I was going to change tires, gave me a right scare and hit my head on the trunk while trying to not let him see the shine I had in the trunk at the time." He winced at that, while his brother talked on.

"Ended up meeting Emily that night too. She was looking after The Cozy Cone Motel for the owner. It didn't matter that she had been woken up to deal with me, she recognized me immediately. I can't say the same for her though, not until she told me who her brother was anyway. The next day she lent me her father's car, learned she didn't know how to drive and got into a bit of a spat with Alex. Ended up staying obviously. Taught her how to drive, became the go to handyman for around here, got this place here, while Em and Michael encouraged me to go to school for law and medicine. The rest I'm sure you've heard in articles."

"So, you ended up in the town that just happens to have a connection to Piston and just so happens to be heavily influenced by car culture, with the caution cone motel, and restaurant called the V8 Cafe."

"Life's funny like that. Em likes to point out that everything happens for a reason, just like Ruth did."

"Well, she's certainly not like her brother."

Jesse shook his head before responding. "She's not, she hasn't even spoken directly to him since about '66."

"What happened then?"

"He tried picking up his daughter drunk, and accused me of being unfaithful and other accusations. It wasn't a good situation. You heard about their divorce? It was rough, those kids were always being bounced around and more often or not ended up here with us."

"That why they're practically yours?"

"That's why. Didn't help that neither of them are particularly good at being parents either. You said you have a couple though?"

"A boy and a girl, both legal adults already. Rebecca Anne, and Daniel Aaron."

"You named them after Ruth and I?"

"It only felt fitting, since Ruth is gone and had been thinking you were too."

"How long you planning on staying?"

"I figured that would depend on you. The plan was for a week give or take on how things are going."

Before he knew it a couple of hours had passed and there was a knock on the door.

"That's probably just Em checking up on us." He got up from the couch they had ended up on, and went to greet who was at the door.

The door opened and Emily poked her head in. "Jesse?"

"Yeah Em, we're doing fine. No arguing at the moment." He motioned her in.

"Good. We're taking your brother to Flo's tonight, our treat. He deserves it since he's made such a drive to confront a very stubborn man. I told him that earlier that, that's what we were doing." She said once she was away from the door.

The three of them had then spent the rest of the day together, having lunch in their kitchen and in the evening they went over to that same cafe he had gone to the night before.

The time was well spent, getting to know his sister-in-law and catching up with his brother. That evening at the cafe he was introduced to the Sheriff Michael that kept being mentioned. By the end of the week he had been introduced to everyone his brother was closer with.

He realized when he was driving home he never did quite have that stricter talk with his brother. Between meeting his brother's wife and friends and one of the worst articles to be released yet, he nearly had forgotten how much he had wanted to wring his brother's neck. At the very least it seemed like a less important thing.

He had also ended up staying longer than the week he had originally planned on, which had left him privy to an altercation with Alex. It had almost ended up in a fight, before the town rallied around his brother. It was in that moment that he had realized just what a pillar in the small community his brother had become; that even here, his brother had fallen into a leadership role, just like he had at home.

He knew that when he made it home, the others were going to be over as soon as they realized he was back. When he had phoned Joan the one time she had told him that the old crew had stopped by looking for him and it hadn't taken much deduction on their part to figure out where he had gone.

He knew he'd be facing lots of questions about his brother when he got home.


	11. The Slip-Meanwhile in Thomasville

So, yay, I was finally able to finish slugging through this chapter which was giving me troubles. The next few are going to be the same way, but I will push through.

Anyway, now we get to see a bit of how the crew is taking this turn of events. Just to be clear, it's in Louise Nash's POV.

* * *

The old crew, which consisted of Junior, River, Smokey and her, had all gather at The Cotter Pin to discuss the article that had been released. It was something they looked forward to every year, with the discussion that it would bring about.

It was supposed to be a recap of the past year in Piston, and give a little bit of an overview for the year to come. Normally, it was given by Edward Piston, and was a great source for keeping up with Piston Cup, now that none of them were participating in the sport. It would usually lead into fun conversations on how the sport was changing.

At least, it had been in the past.

This year though, was underwhelming to say the least. It didn't go into any details for either the past year, or the upcoming one. Making it miss a bulk of what typically made up the interview.

It was all due to who gave the interview this year, and it wasn't the elder Piston.

"You read that interview Alex gave in place of his father, right?" River asked once they were all seated at their usual table.

"If you call that an interview." She scoffed back at him, as the others just rolled their eyes.

"There was hardly anything mentioned about the past season. Not a single word about who won the Cup, and nothing really about the upcoming season." Junior joined their complaining while Smokey remained silent.

"This better be the only interview like this we get from him. I'd rather someone like Joe Moore take over doing that. He's at least always had respect for the sport. He'd probably do a better job though he's never been out on a track like Alex has." She said.

"The way he mentioned Hud's crash, you would have thought he was talking about a stubbed toe." Junior said bringing up another issue with the article.

"Those hurt you know." River quipped.

"Not very serious though, not like Hud's crash was." She countered.

"There was something off about the way he talked about his brother-in-law and how he called him Jesse like that." River said.

"With the way he was talking about his brother-in-law, reminds me of the way of how he would talk about our Jesse." She said now that they were sort of on the topic.

"It does seem like it." Junior agreed.

"And then just what does he mean by there being hype about those past events? That didn't sound like it was necessarily a good thing. Who needs to bring up the past like that again?" River spat out.

"I don't like how he was saying that, that Hud's crash wasn't all that tragic, Hud almost died." She said darkly.

"Yeah, just because it meant he got the cup that year, doesn't mean it was any less tragic, only makes it more so." Junior growled.

"It's all just got to be some weird coincidence, right? We're all thinking it, aren't we? That there's no way that Hud would marry anyone remotely like Alex. Would he?" River asked, voicing their doubts.

"What do you think Smokey? You've been rather quiet all this time." She asked him, actually watching him now. He wasn't looking up at the rest of them, and the way he was brooding reminded her of Jesse before he left.

"Aaron, Hudson, Jesse; I don't know what to think. Emily Piston might not be like her brother. Ruth had met her once, and she thought that Jesse should meet her. Claimed he'd like her. He scoffed at the idea at the time, while Ruth remained insistent that they'd like each other." He paused a moment before continuing on.

"If I find out that he's been going by his middle name, I'm gunna kill him."

She believed if Jesse were to somehow show up right now, that Smokey would rip him a new one, no matter who was around and watching. She quickly changed the topic after a moment of silence.

"So, a doctor. We can't be certain that he is our Jesse Hudson, now can we? Marrying Emily Piston, becoming a doctor, that don't sound much like Hud. Not the Hud we knew."

"I don't know about that either. He used to snatch Ruth's charts to look at them, and was better at taking her pulse than the candy striper was. I just don't know right now." Smokey said, obviously thinking way back.

She hadn't seen him like this since Jesse first disappeared on them. It hurt to see him like this. She and the other two shared a look, if that Aaron Hudson married to Emily Piston was their Jesse Hudson, well he better beware.

To Smokey, she knew it had been like he had lost both of his younger siblings within two years.

If that Aaron Hudson, was truly their Jesse; alive, well, and more than capable of contacting them, there was going to be hell to pay. It wasn't fair what they had been put through with Jesse's disappearance, and if he was married to Emily Piston, then the answer to where he was all these years, had been so close, and yet so far.

She went home that night thinking about Smokey and how Jesse had left.

She had, with Scott and Moon, watched Smokey slowly lose hope over the years about ever hearing from or about Jesse. While he never let it directly effect his daily life, marrying Joan and having their two kids, a daughter and son; he never spoke about it with them. The three of them could; however, tell how much Jesse's disappearance had hurt him.

It wasn't even that Jesse had just simply disappeared, but that he had picked up and left. His Piston Cups were gone, along with some photos, his clothes, and some of the newspapers that the brothers had saved over the years. To her, that seemed like more than a short term thing, particularly with some of those items he had taken, like his cups.

She could remember the first time Smokey had voiced his thoughts about him figuring that his brother was likely dead, in the mid 60's early 70's. Concluding that it was the only logical reason that Jesse hadn't contacted them in some way.

She had speculated before, with Junior and River about the same thing, but had brushed it off, hopeful that wasn't the case. But once Smokey had mentioned it to them, that idea that Jesse might be dead, seemed like a much more real prospect and that it could be the more likely case.

Except for the nagging feeling that wouldn't leave her alone, that surely if Jesse was dead, he would have been found and his death would have made the news as more than just speculation on the anniversary of Jesse's crash. Like the papers and magazines had lightly done on the 25th anniversary of his crash.

It was less than a week after Alex's mockery of an interview came out, that there was an article released expressing similar thoughts about Alex's to their own. As more articles came out, the more likely it seemed like he was their Jesse, or at least they were coming to the same conclusion as them.

Right until an article came out, with a picture of Jesse at medical school.

There was no denying it after that. Their Jesse Hudson had become a doctor and was married to Emily Piston. After that article, Alex confirmed what they now knew. His brother-in-law was their Jesse Hudson, The Fabulous Hudson Hornet.

It left Smokey steamed and it was possibly the angriest she had ever seen him. He only seemed to grow grumpier as more articles came out and they hadn't heard anything from him.

Certainly Jesse had to know they were furious with him. Though their fury had only settled in _after,_ their disbelief and denial passed, that **their** Jesse Hudson had married Emily Piston.

It had left her dumbfounded and baffled before it sunk in. It didn't mean that her feeling of it being wrong on so many different levels, dissipated at all.

How in the world could their Jesse Hudson end up with little miss high society, Emily Piston. They all _knew_ what Smokey had said about Ruth having met Emily, that Ruth had liked her and had said that Jesse would like her. But it was still EMILY PISTON, and if she was like her brother in the slightest, she couldn't see the two getting married.

Not to mention the hurt they all felt at knowing that the answer of _where_ Jesse went, wasn't even that far from them. To be so close and yet so far; Alex had known the entire time where Jesse was.

She was having a hard time wrapping her mind around it all, and probably would until he contacted them.

It would have surprised her how long it had taken Smokey to go and confront Jesse, if it weren't for the fact that his oldest; Rebecca, had been pregnant and due sometime in April. Smokey wasn't going to miss the birth of his first grandchild.

It had been a whole month before he left after they had learned where Jesse was.

There had been some embarrassment about them not having realized that he had left to confront Jesse until a few days after he left.

The three of them had gone to Joan to confirm their speculations of where Smokey had gone. Joan confirmed what they figured, he had gone to confront his brother and they hadn't been told because it was something that he had to do by himself.

She knew they would have wait until Smokey got back, to ask him any questions, he wouldn't be phoning them.

What none of them had expected, were the letters that came from Jesse, dated from March.

The three of them had each received one, they weren't overly long, but they each had their differences that told a little bit more about Jesse's disappearance. The three of them had met up and read each others letters, all of which had the same post script at the end. Each one had said something similar about his running, ending up where he was, and stressing the point that his wife, Emily, was not to be blamed.

The letters told nothing of how he was handling the media storm that had been kicked up, only that he knew he was guilty of not getting in contact with them. After all three of them had read the other's letters did they discuss them a little.

"Well, that sure tells us a fat load of nothing, other than he does feel guilty and knows we're mad at him."

"I'm not sure I'd put him at par with Piston though."

"Maybe Piston should have done that earlier though, maybe we would have heard from Jesse before this."

It was maybe a couple of days later that Smokey contacted them, to say he was back. When they all met up with him they brought their letters to show him.

"So, how was your trip?" She asked.

"Interesting."

"Well, we got something interesting in the mail a couple days ago, before you got back." She said.

"Don't know _what_ you did when you got there, but he sent us letters." River said as they handed Smokey the letters they got.

"They don't say much, even after reading all three of them." Junior said.

"Here's one more if you want to get a little more rounded view." Smokey said tapping his finger on the folded page he placed on the table.

"He handed this to me before I left, claiming it didn't hold anything we didn't talk about, but it does have his phone number and address." The three of them read Smokey's letter at the same time as he read through theirs.

Well, that gave them a bit more insight to how Jesse was, but not much. They waited for Smokey to place down their letters before drilling him on his trip.

"Well, since you've seen him how is he really?" She asked him.

"Grumpy, just like Ruth predicted he'd become in old age."

"I'd be pretty grumpy too if Alex was my brother-in-law." River piped in.

"He stopped by while I was there, that was quite a run in. Nobody cares much for him there, not after the way he's treated Jesse and Emily. Talking about the town, you should see the place. You wouldn't believe what it looks like unless you saw it yourself."

"Why's that?" Junior asked.

"The entire town is vehicle themed in one way or another. I stayed at a motel called The Cozy Cone Motel. Each room was a giant caution cone. There's a tire place that's got a leaning tower of tires and the main restaurant there is called the V8 Cafe, and that's just some of the biggest businesses in town."

She, Moon, and Scott, had been starting to chuckle a little at the thought before Smokey cut them off.

"Emily lent me their Polaroid camera so I could take some pictures to bring back with me. He ran from here, only to land in a town like that, which happened to have a big connection to the Piston family."

They looked at the pictures that Smokey brought out.

He hadn't been kidding about the vehicle theme of the town. He had even gotten a picture of Jesse and Emily together, it looked like Smokey had managed to catch them unaware, Jesse's hand over Emily's while they were sitting across from each other in a booth. He was looking well in the picture and so far he had aged nicely.

"Other than grumpy how is he really? He didn't say anything in those letters about how he's holding up. Just that he thinks we might hold him on par with Piston for this and to not hold anything against his wife. What's she like anyway?" she asked him.

"Yeah, how is Hud feeling about being new news again?" River asked.

"He still got his Hornet?" Junior asked.

"Course he's still got his Hornet, do you really think he'd ever give that car up?" Smokey just rolled his eyes at him.

"No, but you never know. Especially with how many years have gone by."

"Now that that's cleared up, how's Jesse and what's his wife like?" She asked again.

Smokey took in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.

"Well, Emily is nothing like her brother; that's for sure. She reminds me of Ruth in some ways. She's good for him, they complement each other. I think, from the one time Ruth met her, she could tell. She had really wanted Jesse and Emily to meet, like she knew he'd like her. It looks like she _was_ right because I haven't seen him so affectionate since Ruth passed, though that's not saying much. The two of them are run down from all this, and he's stressed to the gills with the negative attention. I never did give him the what for."

"Why not?"

"With all these articles coming out, it's got an entire town on edge. They would have run me out of town without hesitation if they so much as thought I could have been a reporter." He paused.

"Heck, if they had known my original intentions they probably would have anyway, they're so protective over them. They ran Alex out of town when he showed up."

"Really? I think I might like this town."

"They're good people from what I could tell. They've all taken to calling him Doc."

"Well I doubt they'd be calling him Hud."

"Make sure you yell at him in any letters you write him, he's expecting it. Or don't and hold out for a couple before doing so and throw him."

They had spent the rest of the night wringing Smokey for everything that happened on the trip and what he had learned. One of the most interesting things to her was that Jesse and Emily never had kids of their own, but from what she was understanding had practically adopted Alex's youngest and oldest kids.

Minus Smokey, she was the first to give in and send a letter, she hadn't held anything back. She had to laugh at the first line that Jesse had put in the letter in response to her tirade.

'It's good to hear from you too, Lou.' It was just so Jesse and she could still hear the tone of voice it would have been said in.

After she sent a few more letters back and forth, with both Jesse and Emily, did they finally have a phone call. It wasn't long, but it was a start.

She knew that River and Junior didn't hold out much longer than she did and within the year, the three of them had tried to make plans to visit Jesse, which always seemed to fall through.

It wasn't until nearly two years after the first article came out did they see them in person and that was because they come to Thomasville.

* * *

I also may have been distracted by an AU that may never see the light of day, but here's a snippet of it just because I like the way it turned out. Also because it might take me just as long to get out the next chapter as this one did. I've got a few hard chapters to write and then I'll be into some easier ones. Also, if you're interested in seeing the letters that Jesse sent them, let me know, because I do have them written, but I didn't like the flow. Enjoy or not the snippet below.

 _"You're home early." Joan told him as he sat down at the kitchen table. He didn't really acknowledge her statement, in his numb state._

 _"Jesse's dead."_

 _"I know you've been starting to think that, but you can't be sure."_

 _"I can though, I just got a phone call from his widow at the garage, saying he was killed by a drunk driver while walking home. Her father's going to make arrangements to fly us out for the funeral."_

 _"Who is she? Nobody we'd know, is she?"_

 _"Know of her, but hadn't talked to her before today. He married Emily Piston."_


	12. The Slip- Going Back

I've gotten absolutely nowhere on the chapter I had been trying to write, so we'll go back to it at a later date. Instead we're skipping ahead to just over two years after the first article came out. There were other distractions as well, they may or may not appear at a much later date. Anyway here's a chapter that's been sitting around almost finished for a bit.

* * *

Emily stepped out onto the back deck where she knew Jesse was hiding. She didn't sit beside him, she wasn't going to be outside long.

"Jesse, daddy and I have been talking, and I think you should hear him out." He looked up to answer her.

"Em, you know how I feel about your father's proposals." She rested her hand on his arm, giving it a squeeze.

"I know, and you've let the entire world know how bitter you still are about past events and now the press. You shouldn't let your bitterness stop you from taking part in something that you love though. You love racing, and this is just a different way to be a bit more hands on and interactive with the sport, than you have been in years. Just please, listen to what he has to say? Hmm?"

"Alright, for you I will."

"Thank-you." She gave his arm another squeeze before giving him a kiss.

"He's all yours daddy." She gave her father a hug and a kiss on the cheek as she headed back inside.

"Thank-you my dear." He came outside after hugging her back. "I believe you know what I'm going to ask..." Edward started as he sat down in front of his son-in-law.

"I do, but I told Emily I'd listen." He crossed his arms, having put down the paper he had been occupying himself with.

"Good, good." He rubbed his hands together. "Jesse, I want you and Emily to take over for me; together. On a trial basis at first, so there's no pressure on either of you."

"Do you really think that will be a good idea? I have no doubt that Emily would do well at such, But I just had that letter published where I criticized the past administration, including you-"

"All of us deserved that Jesse. We severely mishandled everything from the beginning of that race and after." Jesse started shaking his head before he was finished speaking.

"No, you don't, you _cared,_ same with Joe Moore. I've also claimed that I'm a doctor first and foremost now. How do you think people are going to take that? It will seem hypocritical. I'm sorry Edward, but I don't think I want to go through the press wringer again."

"We will stress that you that you are giving this a try, _because_ you have been requested to do so by your aging and slowly ailing father-in-law, who has been wanting you to do so for years. It won't be like you're doing so alone. Emily will be working with you, and we won't be throwing you into the deep end. Joe and I will help guide the two of you in the beginning. You've always been a smart lad with a good head on his shoulders. I had asked Joe if he would take my place, but he is happy with where he is."

"I don't know, it's been a long time since I've had much to do with that world." He stared at his yard, away from his father-in-law.

"Jesse, I know one of the biggest things that has held you back before, was that you wanted to keep your anonymity, but since that is no longer possible, there's no reason you couldn't do it now. You can't hide the media anymore son."

"Sir, I'm a doctor, with a smattering of law thrown in. I've been out of that world, for over 30 years now. With all that's happened over the last couple of years, do you think anyone will take kindly to Em and I coming in like you suggest?"

"They might not, but after this mess, I am not handing it over to Alexander. I'm not giving him the chance to mishandle it more than he already has. All I'm asking, is that you and Emily give it a try, then decide."

oOoOoOo

He couldn't believe he had let his father-in-law convince him to give it a try. So, here he was, sitting in his car with Emily, dreading to go in.

"Jesse, we can't stall too long. We do have to be upstairs for our introductory meeting." He tore his eyes away from the building to look at her.

"I know; but Em, last time I was in _any_ Piston admin buildings, was in the 50's. It wasn't a good or pleasant experience."

"You were there for a different reason then, than you are now."

"You're right. Last time I was here; as such, I was here as a driver being turned away. Now, I'm a doctor, with a bitter grudge; who has no business returning after having nothing to do with Piston Cup for years. I still don't see how or why your father thinks this is going to work. I feel like there's going to be a lot of bitterness over this move, a lot of people who'll want to see us crash and burn."

"Quit being so dramatic Jesse, you're just nervous. For as many people who'll want to see us fail, there will be at least twice as many who want to see us succeed. We have daddy's full support and everyone knows we're just giving it a try to see if we like it; which I think you will. I think we both will. Maybe doing this will help you finish work through that bitter grudge."

"Do you really think we're going to have as many supporters as naysayers Em?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"I do. And I know for a fact, that Joe Moore will be one of them. He's been wanting to talk to you for years. I know the two of you get along or at least used to."

"He's respectable, he didn't say anything at Lyn's wedding."

"We'll get to see more of Lyn and Strip this way too, and that's always a good thing. Besides, I don't care what you say, how you say it, or how you feel about it, you are still Jesse Hudson, number 51, Fabulous Hudson Hornet, a three time Piston Cup champion, who ran into me and yet managed to not break my ankle. If anyone deserves to make a comeback to this sport, in any way, it's you. Now, let's go show how right everyone is about us being the golden couple of racing."

"Only because we shouldn't be late."

"Then let's go."

oOoOoOo

He joined his arm with hers, once he had helped her out of the car. That's how they remained as they walked through the halls, up to Edward's office. He doubted there was a single person in the building who couldn't recognize them.

As such, as they made their way up, people were staring at them. Most just glanced as they passed and had to take a second look; others, openly stared in awe, though those were mainly from those who were younger than them. There were a few who glared in some kind of contempt, or hostility; while others were poker faced.

He supposed he would have to get used to those stares.

It didn't take long for the stares to die down, once people began to realize he was becoming a regular fixture. At first he had felt like a specimen under a microscope, people waiting to see him fail.

Over the first year Edward had sat him down once a month to see how he was doing, how he was liking it and if he had decided if they were going to keep up with it. Emily and him had talked about it as well and they both agree that they were enjoying it and would stick with it.

They shared an office and once they decided to stay, Emily insisted on displaying his Piston Cups in their office as well as duplicates of his diplomas and license to say he was still a practising doctor.

Before their second year was over, Edward had felt comfortable enough to leave it in their hands, stepping down into retirement. There was some unease in the offices right after that, but it quickly became clear that he and Em didn't need her father to babysit them. They could handle themselves better than Alex ever did.

In fact, most of the lingering resentment came from Alex and not others in the office. They had gained the respect of the community, even after his own scathing remarks on the old administration.

Everything fell into a rhythm as the ever-changing sport got used to the newest set of changes.

As the years passed, they grew with the sport and collectively mourned Edward when he passed. It was only a short time after that, Alex claimed he was retiring, that he didn't care to continuing to work without his father.

Though it didn't stop him from hanging around the offices in an unofficial way. That didn't bother him or Emily, it just meant he had no legal say in what was happening with the sport.

He and Em did get to see Lyn and Strip more, as they often went to the races, spending the off season back in Radiator Springs.

As it turned out, it wasn't so bad being back in the racing world.


	13. The Slip- Confronting Thy Father

So, I've been waiting a long time to get to this chapter. I've been incredibly excited for it for sometime now. The original concept was conceived in January and shortly after, I had a dream which sent me down this path, which you'll read. It's still intimately tied into The Slip. You'll have to tell me after you read it, if the chapter title is too telling. I won't change it though, I like it too much.

* * *

He and Emily had been walking back to their hotel room and had decided to take the stairs, as there weren't that many. They had been talking quietly with each other about how nice it was going to be to do some travelling with Lyn and Strip; meeting up with Stephen and his family before school started up again. They hadn't expected the scene they walked into, though they heard it before seeing it.

"Sir, if you're wanting to charge him, you must come down to the office to do so. This is the quickest, most discrete way." They heard one person say.

"We're not in the habit of parading around those we're taking into custody." A different person said.

"Fine. I don't see why an elevator couldn't be used. There must be another set, other than the ones in the lobby." They stopped and stared at each other with the newest voice. They recognized it all too well; it being her brother's.

They turned the corner for the last stretch of stairs, only to see her brother, scowling, with two hotel security guards, holding a terrified kid, nearly in tears. The kid couldn't be more than 16 or 17; at most, struggling against the guards grip on him.

"What are you doing with that kid, Alex?" He asked, startling the four at the top of the stairs. Alex's expression darkened at the sight of him, before he pointed towards the kid.

" _He_ , was trying to break into _my_ room."

"I was not!" Snapped the kid, trying to glance over his shoulder. "I was _knocking_ on his door. I just wanted to talk to him."

Without thinking he told the kid, "no, you don't."

He was surprised at the kids tone though. He sounded more frustrated than afraid like he though he would sound. He could tell Em was surprised by it too.

"How old are you kid?" He asked ignoring his brother-in-law for the moment, more concerned about the kid.

"Sixteen, but I'm turning 17 in a couple weeks." A minor yet. What was Alex trying to do?

"What are you going to do with the kid?" He asked one of the guards.

"We're taking him to the security office, where we'll phone his parents and get this sorted." Said the one guard as their grip seemed to tighten on the squirming kid. Em squeezed his hand at the sight.

"Parent, I've only got my mom." The kid grumbled.

"So, he's following the kid because he wants to charge him?" He raised an eyebrow, as Alex's scowl deepened.

"Yes sir, though he's not really following the kid; he's coming with us so he can make a formal complaint or charge. That has to be done in the office though, because of the paperwork."

"Of course he is." Em muttered under her breath, only loud enough for him to hear. He only gave her hand a squeeze back.

"Ow! Will you let me go!" the kid complained.

"If you would stop squirming alre-"

"Maybe, he'd stop squirming if you would stop gripping him so tight." Emily interpreted, glaring at the guard.

"We can't loosen our grip too much or it give the person we're holding a chance to break away and run."

"He's a minor. Have you even checked to see if he wants to run?"

"No."

"Kid, if they let you go; are you going to run?"

"No, there's no place for me _to_ run. All I wanted was the chance to talk with Mr. Piston, at least a little bit. I just want to know how he knows his mom." He looked like he was going to cross his arms, if the guards hadn't been holding him.

"I don't think he's going to run. Let him go and we'll all go down to the office to figure out just what's happening and then we're not blocking the stairs." The two guards looked skeptical at each other before cautiously releasing the kid.

"Where is the office?" Emily asked them.

"Main floor, it's three doors down on the left when you exit these stairs."

"Thank-you, my husband and I will make sure that this young man gets down there. We just want to talk with him a moment. You can take Alexander down already though, get him started started on any paperwork he might need to do for his accusation."

"It's not an accusation if it's true, Emily." Alex did cross his arms.

"Lucky you, I don't trust your truths anymore. The three of us will meet you down there."

They waited until her brother and the guards started down the stairs, Alex leading the way.

"Are you alright?" She asked the kid quietly. He just shrugged silently.

"I'm a doctor, are you sure you're okay kid?"

"I don't think they were actually gripping hard enough to bruise me, if that's what you mean. I'm more shaken than anything, you know? I-I didn't expect that he'd call security on me for knocking on his door."

"Can I give you a quick look over?" He nodded.

"When they grabbed you, did you hit your head at all?"

"No. I don't think so, they just grabbed my arms."

"I'm going to give it a check anyway, I want you to tell me if anything feels tender."

"Okay." He looked over the kid's head first, which was fine thankfully. The kid hissed a little at his gentle prods at where he had been held.

"Well kiddo, your head's fine, there might not be any visible bruises on your arms right now, but it doesn't mean that they won't show up later."

"Great, do you think we can go and get this over with."

"Sure kid." They started down the stairs.

"I can't keep letting him call you kid all the time, so will you tell us your name?"

"It's Lightning."

"No it's not, your real name kid, not your nickname." He huffed in amusement at that.

"That's what I go by though!" He just glared at the kid until he gave in.

"Aaron, it's Aaron McQueen." The kid; Aaron, grumbled.

"Thank-you Aaron, we will get this all sorted out." Emily told him.

He just muttered a quiet thanks as they entered the office. He went to talk to the security guard, before beginning anything else.

"Is there anyway the four of us can talk without you interference?"

"As long as there's someone in there to watch the kid so nothing happens to him."

"It's a little late for that, he's already been traumatized by this. It'll be my brother-in-law who needs protection, if anyone does." He hoped the guards felt a bit guilty for the way they treated the kid. The four of them were guided into a quiet room in the back with a table and chairs, and a phone on the wall. He and Emily had Aaron sit between them while Alex sat across from them, trying his hardest to ignore the kid between them. Now they could ask more questions of the kid.

"Aaron? Who are you here with?" Emily asked.

"My friend James and his parents. My mom wouldn't come. So, they brought me with them to go to the race as an early birthday gift."

"Do you know where they are?"

"No, but James went to go find them when this all started. We're staying in room 295 and his parents are in 293."

"So, what did you want to talk to Alex about before?"

"Did you really want to ask him if he knew your mom?"

"He must know my mom." He was staring at Alex before looking back at him.

"I had brushed by him earlier, on the way to the pool with James. We had been goofing around on the way there, so I really more bumped into him, but I apologized before going on my way." He crossed his arms, slouching into the chair a bit.

"After we were done at the pool, I overheard him on the phone saying something about sending a warning the next time money was sent to Elizabeth McQueen. My mom's name; it made me pause." The kid took a breath.

"He dictated what he sort of wanted to say, something about the money stopping sometime in the next couple of years if not sooner. Then he used mom's nickname, which I've only heard my grandparents use. So, he has to know my mom. If he's been the one who's been sending my mom money for years, then he's most likely my dad." He had such an earnest expression on his face as he talked.

"It would explain a lot about my mom. Like her fascination with the Piston family, but why she refuses to go anywhere near a Piston Cup race. The only thing she's ever told me about him was that he walked out on her, once she told him she was expecting me." He turned to Emily.

"Once, I asked her about the cheques and she told me it was money from my father. I've wanted to know who my father is for as long as I can remember. Now, I finally get the chance to meet or speak to him, and he won't give me the time of day. He's not even looking at me now. Not even a sorry kid, you're wrong or something, anything." He grumbled the last part, slouching more and more into his chair.

"Oh, Aaron, sweetheart." Emily glared at her brother who remained silent and glaring at him, before turning and fussing over the kid.

"I want to speak with your mom, what's your phone number?" He noted it down as Aaron rattled it off. He phoned the number, and as he waited, he watched Alex sulk and avoid looking at the kid and Emily who was fussing over him, while he tried to hide himself in the chair. It didn't take long for the phone to be answered.

"Hello?" A woman's voice answered, it didn't sound like she could be much older than Lyn, though voices could be deceiving. He wouldn't put it past Alex bedding a younger woman though.

"Is this Elizabeth McQueen?"

"Speaking." He could immediately hear the alarm in her voice. "Did something happen to Lightning? Because this doesn't sound like David Rogers. Did something happen to them?"

"Is that who he's here with? No, it's not David Rogers, and as far as I'm aware nothing's happened to him. It's Jesse Hudson, and I'm phoning about Lightning-"

"Is he okay? What happened to him? He wasn't bugging you, was he?"

"He's fine, he wasn't bugging _me_ , though he had tried talking to my brother-in-law. Which did land him in a spot of trouble, as my brother-in-law called security on him."

"Oh, my poor baby, are you sure he's fine?"

"Yes, a bit shaken by the experience, but fine. I have a couple of questions for you though."

"Of course."

"This all came about because Lightning had thought that Alex could be his father."

"He's not wrong."

"His father-"

"Is Alexander Piston." Her voice was small now. "He walked out when I told him I was pregnant, and shortly after that, those articles started coming out on you." He really had to strain to hear the next part. "I kept each article because I feel like it's my fault to some degree."

"You're not the one who made those articles happen, that was Alex alone."

"I know, or at least that's what I tell myself. He told me to never contact him again, but I couldn't do so. Every five years I sent him a photo of Aaron, starting with his birth announcement."

"Is that so?"

"It is. I named him after you, actually. The only thing Alex has done, is send money every couple of months. Does that answer some of your questions?"

"It answers enough."

"Could I speak with him? My son that is, I'm long past the point of wanting to hear anything from Alex."

"I'll get him for you."

"Thank-you."

He went and tapped the kid's shoulder, speaking lowly. "Your mom wants to speak with you."

"Okay." He watched the kid go over to the phone and start his conversation.

"Mom? ... Why didn't you tell me before, so I knew and wasn't always wondering?" He could hear the kid's emotions breaking free now that he was talking to his mom. He sat down beside Emily, refusing to look at Alex, in fear of wanting to strangle his brother-in-law.

"What did his mom say, Jesse?"

"She confirmed what he pieced together. He's got Piston blood. Worst of all, he's known the entire time that the kid's his."

"WHAT? HE KNOWS!?"

"She's sent him pictures, and he's been sending her money."

"Oh, Jesse."

"There's more. Apparently, after she told him she was expecting, about a week after, those articles started coming out. She feels guilty." Emily just covered her mouth and closed her eyes.

"That poor woman. She knows those aren't her fault, right?"

"More or less. Did you learn anything from the kid?"

"It sounds like he doesn't have much family other than his mom; his mentioned grandparents, don't sound like they have much to do with either of them. Nor does it sound like he has any real father figures in his life. You should have seen how his face lit up when you introduced yourself to his mom, I don't think he realized who we were before that point."

"What a mess your brother has created. I'm this close to strangling him Em." He held his fingers about an inch a part.

"Well you're doing a good job of not, so far."

"She named him after me, to spite him a bit."

"Hmm."

The kid was back in front of them now, shifting nervously on his feet.

"Ah, my mom said she's going to come tomorrow, that she'd be here by the afternoon. Do you think I'd be allowed to go back to my room?"

"We'll check for you." Emily nodded, while he got up to talk to the guard.

"If he doesn't file a formal report, can the kid go?"

"As far as I'm concerned even if there is one filed the kid can go. If I understand what I've been hearing, there shouldn't be one anyways. Plus if you escort him there, he's under adult supervision so he can't say he's not being looked after. We got a hold of the people who he's travelling with and they're in their room and the two rooms are joined, so even then he'll be looked after. So, feel free to take him."

"Alright there kiddo, let's get you back to where you're staying."

"I'm sure you feel like you've had enough excitement for one day haven't you?" Emily asked somewhat rhetorically as she put a hand on his back to lead him out; the boy looked emotionally drained and physically exhausted. He let the two of them leave first, before turning back to Alex.

"I don't know what you're playing at, trying to charge _your_ son for trying to talk to you. But I'd think long and hard before you put a formal complaint in about your son. If it goes through, it will be fought every step of the way."

They walked him back to his hotel room quiet except for the occasional question from him and their answer back. Once they were standing outside his room he was shuffling back and forth on his feet.

"Ah, thank you for helping me, when you didn't know anything about me."

"Oh, sweetheart, we would have done that for anyone. You can call me Aunt Emily if you like dear. We will keep in contact, I promise."

"I'd like that." He put a hand on the kid's shoulder.

"We'll see you in the morning, we'll wait for your mother with you."

"Really?!"

"Yes really."

"Thanks." He knocked on the door which opened quickly by a boy about the same age as Lightning, whose face was tense but drained into one of relief once he saw Lightning.

"You're alright, good. Do you learn the truth?"

"Yeah James, I'll tell you in a minute though."

"Okay."

Lightning gave them one last wave before the door closed. They sighed almost in unison, and draped their arms around each other leaning against the others sides, before retiring to their own room.

"That poor boy, what a way to meet family."

"Well now we know a reason for why he did it. He wanted to cover up his mistake."

"I'm not really surprised at this. Just a bit disgusted about how much worse he handled this situation compared to his older kids."

"I know Em, I know."

* * *

Ah, surprise? Did I shock any of you? (And my dear Nurf, I know this didn't shock you, since you've known this was coming since January and got the roughest form by a description of my dream and more.) Others have only been given the vaguest notion of my excitement of this chapter.


	14. The Slip- The Affair

Oh! Look! It hasn't even been a month yet. Anyway, a bit of a throw back after that last chapter. A shorter chapter too. The next few probably will be shorter. We're going back to the beginning of The Slip with this one, but quite a different view point, Lightning's mom.

* * *

She had not intended to get pregnant; and certainly not when having an affair with an older man.

But that's exactly what happened.

She told him when they were out for Valentines Day. She was only far enough along to know for sure that she was pregnant, but not far enough to be showing yet.

She had asked him if he'd marry her (not expecting that to happen), or at least for him to be there for his child, they didn't have to make anything public.

He refused to have anything to do with the baby. It was once he decided to not even acknowledge their child growing inside her; that she mentioned that she thought the press might find it interesting to know that he had a child on the way.

That completely shut the evening down. He wrote her a cheque for a couple thousand and told her that the world would never believe her foolish fantasy.

He also told her that they were never to see or contact each other again. He never wanted to hear from her again. They were done.

She had tried taking her story to the press the next day but was shut down.

"Lady, if we were to run every story of someone claiming to be pregnant by a famous figure; we'd lose credibility. You don't even look pregnant. Maybe you can try again once you actually look pregnant."

It was only shortly after that, that the story broke about who her baby's uncle actually was.

Alex had trapped her; there was no way anyone would pick up her story now.

Though, she did try once when she was further along in her pregnancy, and was certainly showing. They had still brushed her off, even though she was claiming it was Alexander Piston's baby. They were still more interested in stories about Jesse Hudson. So, she gave up on that avenue.

She had thought that if anything, the fact that she was claiming she was pregnant with Alexander Piston's child would be even more news worthy, to stir up extra drama, but apparently it wasn't.

Fine, her baby didn't need a selfish man like that for a dad anyway. If he wasn't going to acknowledge their child, she wouldn't acknowledge him.

Except; she ended up collecting every article that was coming out that remotely related to the Pistons.

In duplicates; mainly because the first copy she would end up scribbling scathing remarks about Alex and how if she had stayed quiet about her pregnancy that maybe he wouldn't have done such a thing, because surely it was her fault.

What had she been doing with a man that age anyway? Her baby's oldest brother was only four years younger than her.

Maybe her father was right to disown her, but she had never intended for any of this to happen. She never thought she would have ended up in that kind of relationship with that type of man. It made her wonder about what kind of person that made her.

So, she was now going to be raising this child of hers all by herself, but she wasn't going to give it up. The baby was hers and she was going to raise it to the best of her abilities.

She had to be strong for him, her son, it was going to be hard, but in the end she knew it would be worth it, to watch him grow up.

* * *

So there is the start of The Slip. Thoughts, comments, questions?


	15. The Slip- Confronted by Thy Son

This isn't strictly a Halloween themed chapter, but it should be just as terrifying. A chapter in Alexander Piston's point of view.

* * *

As soon as he saw the kid who bumped into him, he knew who he was.

He paled, as the kid ran towards the pool. Aaron McQueen; his son from his one affair. Here, in the same hotel that he was in.

He was sent into a panic.

The boy was almost grown, and had to be a couple years older than the last photo he was sent by the mother.

She had ignored him telling her no contact. It was only a slight breech though, a photo every five years with no note, just the back of the photo labelled. The first one had been sent with a birth announcement, and even then, it didn't come with a personalized note.

He had hid all four photos in the same place and typically wouldn't look at them, except for maybe once a year; if that.

Maybe she needed a bit of a reminder to stay away and out of his business. A warning with the next cheque sent. Warning about the money stopping sooner, rather than later.

He hadn't realized that the boy was in hearing range when he set that up. It was only once he noticed being followed by the boy, that he thought he might have been overheard.

He cursed himself for that. He should have done that from the safety of the hotel room, instead of using the pay phones in the lobby.

He never wanted anything to do with the boy, he already had three legitimate kids, he didn't need another. One who would taint his already tarnished reputation.

But now, he had this boy following him and had followed him to his room. It wasn't like the boy was alone either; he had a friend trailing along behind him.

He was able to get into his hotel room and close the door before the two boys came to it. It didn't stop them from knocking, and the one boy, who he was assuming was his son, was asking if they could speak with each other.

He quickly phoned the front desk, asking them to send up security because he thought there was someone trying to break into his room.

It had taken them five or ten minutes to get there.

After a couple minutes of no knocking there was one quick firm knock, which he checked to make sure was a security guard before opening the door. Once he did, he saw that they had only managed to grab his _son_ , the friend was gone.

At least they had nabbed the important one, maybe if he charged the boy it would be enough of a lesson to stay out of his business and keep the boy out of his hair. It might be a good thing for the mother too.

So, he told the guards that he wanted the boy charged, and he was told that meant he had to come down to the office to do so. That pissed him right off, didn't they know _who_ he was? But he agreed to do so.

They were on their way, just when Hudson had to go and ruin everything. _Again_.

He hated that man. He was the sole reason he was where he was; he still thought Emily never should have married him.

Hudson always got what he had wanted and more, he didn't need him interfering but there was no way he wouldn't.

He was right about Hudson interfering. He had the guards release the kid from their grasp and started treating the boy like he was a victim.

Both Hudson and Emily insisted on coming down to the office with them. They listened to the boy, and phoned the boy's mother to get her take.

He could tell by Hudson's glare at him that Kate must have told him about the photos that she had sent him.

This was not going the way he had hoped.

Then when the three of them left, Hudson had to pop back in for a moment and threaten him about what happened. Him!

He was leaving this hotel as soon as possible. He wasn't going to stick around for any reason.


	16. The Slip- Spotting Mom's Skeletons

Not a Halloween chapter, but a kind of literal take on how everyone has skeletons in their closets. This does take place a year or so before Confronting Thy Father.

* * *

"Aaron William McQueen, what do you think you're doing?" He cringed, he knew he was in trouble now.

He had been trying to find his birthday present, but instead had found something much more interesting.

Buried in his mom's closet he had found a large box filled with articles on the Piston family and Jesse Hudson, the Fabulous Hudson Hornet.

At the top were fairly recent articles, some that he had read himself from some of the magazines he'd read and the further he got into the box the older the articles got.

At first he thought that maybe his mom had been saving them for him, but they weren't all racing related so he threw that idea out the window, especially once he started to get near the bottom.

There were articles from when he was a baby and before he was born, and there was no way his mom could have predicted his love of racing then. So, they had to be for her; which didn't make sense, as she didn't like racing. She had told him watching the cars race around the track made her motion sick.

She had caught him when he was finishing the last article that was on the top of a locked box.

"Nothing." He didn't think that'd work, but it didn't mean he couldn't try.

"That doesn't look like nothing. You've got papers strewn across my bed. If you were looking for a certain something, I haven't gotten it yet." She was standing in the doorway still, hands on her hips. She sighed as she entered her bedroom, coming towards him.

"When are you going to learn to keep out of other people's things Aaron? You wouldn't like it if I went through your stuff and as your mom I have every right to do so if I felt like I needed to. I don't go through your stuff you shouldn't go through mine."

He was right, he was in trouble for snooping, again. He didn't know how he was always found when snooping, but he was almost every single time. This time though, he wanted answers about what he found.

"When will you tell me about who my dad is?" He knew that was a jump, but maybe those articles or that locked box had something to do with him. Maybe the clue to who he was, was in those boxes.

"We're talking about you and your snooping right now, not that. Don't change the subject."

"Fine, then why do you have all these articles about Jesse Hudson and the Pistons?" He gestured to all the articles he left on her bed.

"Mind your own business Aaron, one day that will get you in trouble if you don't." She said sharply.

"Why do you always keep everything so secretive mom? What would be so bad about letting me know about who my father is? Or why you've kept all those articles from the time you were pregnant with me? Could you at least tell me why my first name is the same as Jesse Hudson's middle name? Is there a connection there? I just want to know!" He was wining, but he was tired of not knowing.

"What if I just happened to like that name Aaron? Not everything is connected like that." She sounded exasperated now.

"Then why did you name me after great grandpa? Why give me a middle name with meaning but not a first name?"

"I had thought about naming you William Aaron, but grandpa was still alive when you were born, and I had always liked the name Aaron, seeing those articles with that name in them just brought to the front of my mind how much I liked it. And I didn't have a birthday gift for you yet if that's what you were looking for. Now out, while I clean up the mess you made." She shooed him out of her room.

He left, still no closer to finding out who his father was or what his birthday present was. Plus, he now had a new mystery, he wanted to know what was in that locked box.


	17. The Slip- The Next Day

This takes place as you'll quickly find out, right after Confronting Thy Father.

* * *

The kid was pacing currently.

They had spent the morning; in the hotel lobby, waiting for his mom; getting to know him. Asking him everything from what his favourite colour was, to where he went to school, which grade he was in, which classes he liked most, what he wanted to do when he grew up, and if he had a girlfriend. Just anything they could think of, to get to know him better.

He asked them just as many questions, though about half of his were about racing, after he had blushed and admitted he wanted to be a race car driver. He had told them about how he had always been fascinated by racing and had watched a lot of old races of both his and Strip's.

They hadn't made mention to him that while he was waiting for his mom, they were waiting for his half sister Lynda.

"Why don't you come sit down again kiddo?"

"She's late, she said she'd be here by one, it's already 1:30."

"She probably got caught up in some traffic. Come, sit here beside me." Emily patted the chair beside her.

She had taken him right under her wing already and was constantly playing with his hair or giving his hand a bit of a squeeze and a hug or two already. Trying to make up for all the time she could have been being an aunt to him.

They had both decided that when Lyn got there, he would talk to her first about what they had learned.

Lightning only sat for a moment before getting up and pacing again.

"Mom, dad!" Lyn called out, Emily just waved from where she was, getting the kid to sit for a moment again, while he got up to greet her.

"Hi Lyn," he said giving her a hug before guiding her away from Emily for a moment.

"Who's that with mom? You look tired, what's wrong?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"That, is something we have to talk about, and I've been voted the one to do so. We had an eventful day yesterday, and learned some interesting things. We learned just what that little slip of your father's was all about in the eighties."

"Oh, no." Her arms fell to her sides, a frown forming.

"We stumbled across your father accusing that kid, of trying to break into his room. He wasn't trying to break into the room, he just wanted to talk with your father. All he wanted to know was, if Alex was his father."

"Oh, that poor kid. Is he my half brother then?" She looked towards the kid before looking back at him.

"Mmhhmm, we're waiting for his mom, who's coming up after that revelation. She hadn't told him anything about his father other than he walked out on his mom when she told him."

"What's his name?" She said looking over at him again.

"Aaron McQueen, but he likes to go by Lightning."

"Lightning? Really?" She smiled, amused at the nickname.

"He got it from doing track apparently and it stuck. It suits him surprisingly well though. He's a pretty sharp kid."

"Well, there was a time there for a bit that I had wanted a little sibling. How old is he?"

"Turning 17 in a couple of weeks he said. This was supposed to be a birthday trip with a friend and his parents, so they could watch that last race."

"Some trip this has turned out to be for him then."

"Ready to go over and meet him?" She shrugged at him.

"Well, I don't know of any way of preparing to meet a half brother, for the first time, who's under half your age, but yeah." She went straight over to Emily first. He went and sat down beside Emily, the kid had remained sitting this time.

"Hi, mom." Giving her a hug.

"Hi, Lyn sweetie."

"You look as tired as dad."

"He was up stressing half the night, and when one of us doesn't sleep neither does the other. Maybe introducing yourself to Lightning will take his mind off how late his mom is."

"Okay." She nodded at her aunt before going and sitting on the other side of her new found half brother. "Hi there, Lightning? I'm Lynda."

"You're Lynda Weathers!" The kid perked right up from where he was slouching.

"I am, I don't know who else I'd be. Dad was tell me a little bit about you." She could see the confusion bloom his face at her saying dad.

"I mean Uncle Jesse, not our father there is a difference, which I'm sure you learned about a little yesterday it sounds like."

"Yeah, you could call it that." He started to sulk again.

"While you might not have gained a father yesterday, you did gain a sister and two older brothers that you'll have to meet. Now that we know about you, we're not going to let you disappear on us." She looked over to their aunt and uncle conspicuously, before speaking again in a lowered voice.

"Plus, Uncle Jesse and Aunt Emily are amazing suricate parents when they need to be, just between you and me."

"Really?" She just nodded in return.

"And two older brothers?" He sounded skeptical at that.

"Yes, Stephen and Bernard. Stephen is married and has kids while Bernard doesn't, then of course there's my own husband. Which means you're a brother-in-law to Strip Weathers."

Doc could tell Lyn must have brought up Strip because the kid's face lit up in excitement.

A woman hurried into the lobby shortly after, frantically looking around.

"Lightning! Lightning!" She called, so that was the kid's mother, she couldn't have been much older than Stephen.

Lightning perked right up at her calling his name.

"Mom!" He practically ran over to her, they hugged, she petted his hair. He wouldn't be surprised if there were tears on either of their behalf's.

"Oh my baby, I'm so sorry how late I am. I got stopped by a train and then I was caught in traffic due to an accident. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you who he was before. I was trying to avoid something like that happening. I thought if you knew you'd try to seek him out. You're too curious for your own good sometimes."

"I know you've told me that before, but I had to know. I'm glad you're here though."

"Me too, Lightning. Now why don't you introduce me to everyone you were sitting with." He led her back to where they were sitting.

"Alright. Mom, this is Aunt Emily, Uncle Jesse, and Lynda; this is my mom Elizabeth."


	18. The Slip- More Gained Than Lost

A bigger chapter again, one that had given me some trouble when I first wrote it, but I really like how it turned out in the end.

* * *

They had kept in touch with the kid and his mother, after meeting them for the first time.

He and Emily had sent him a birthday card that he had gotten Lou, Junior, and River to sign and as an added bonus Henry had signed it too. The loud phone call that they got in return proved that they had done well for having just met him.

They had known that Strip and Lyn were going to make an effort to stop by for him, and once they did, they got an excited call in return; even though they had nothing to do with the visit.

They did stop in a couple times themselves when in the area. Elizabeth always appreciated that. Them, treating her son as the family member he was, as quickly as they had.

They had also taken to exchanging phone calls every few days with the small family, trying to get to know the two better.

They had tried to do something for Thanksgiving, but it fell through due to it being the only time her parents were 'able' to do anything for the holidays with them.

So, that Christmas they flew them into Flagstaff, picked them up and brought them to Radiator Springs for the holiday.

Mater quickly took the kid under his wing, much to the kid's shock and horror at first. A little cow tipping later, and the two had become fast friends.

By the end of the holiday the McQueen's had met both Stephen and his family, as well as Bernard who had stopped by for a day or two.

Henry and Joan had made the trek over as well.

The others had followed to 'get a look at Hud's new kid' he had just rolled his eyes at their proclamation and enjoyed watching them get geeked out over when they met him.

He and Em ended up talking with Lightning every couple of days after Christmas had passed. All in all; they had ended up getting to know him quite well over the few months that they knew him.

Then at the end of February, life as the kid knew it, crumbled all around him it seemed; a feeling he knew all to well.

"Jesse wake up, we've got to go." Em said as she gave him a light shake.

With a yawn he asked "why, what's wrong?"

"We just got a phone call that Elizabeth's in the hospital after being hit by a drunk driver. She had us listed as emergency contacts. I've booked us the first flight I could get. Start packing a bag, we've got to go, poor Aaron." He got up and dressed, quickly packing a bag, before the phone rang.

"I'll get it Em, keep packing." She nodded at him.

"Hello."

"Uncle Jesse! My- my mom..."

"Ssshhh, kiddo, I know, we're on our way, we're catching the first flight that way, we're coming. You won't be alone for long, just a few hours and we'll be there for you hot rod." He sniffled out an okay.

"If you want or need someone to talk to until we get there, phone Lyn or Stephen, they'll gladly take your call and just be there for you. You could phone almost anyone you've met here and get the same response. You could phone Mater, but I don't know how comforting he'd be."

He got a little snort from that at least, he explained he had to hang up now so that they could get to the airport in time. The sooner they left the sooner they could be there for him.

That finally got him off the phone, though he did give one last suggestion that if he didn't phone one of his siblings he should phone his brother, Henry. Henry would be able to sympathize with him the most, having dealt with both losing their mother and dealing with his crash.

They weren't so rushed as to forget to put a sign on the clinic to say they would be away for a family emergency.

Their travels had never felt so long, but he knew what it felt like to lose his mother and not knowing whether she'd pull through or not. He felt for the kid, more than he could know at the moment.

Emily was lucky with when she lost her parents, to have had so many years with them.

Now this kid, who was more of a kid than he had ever been in so many ways, was very possibly losing his mother, the only parental figure he had had for years.

He had had a dramatic enough year already with finding out who his father was, that he had tried to cover him up, and that he cared so little that he wouldn't even talk or look at the kid.

When they got there he was in an absolute panic, frantically pacing and in tears. They had gotten an update on his mother before arriving. She was in critical care, they were taking her into surgery to try and fix some of the damage her body sustained. They weren't giving her high odds for her to pull through though. So the next few hours and possibly days of uncertainty were going to be the hardest waiting and the most crucial on whether she would pull through or not.

It really did bring to mind losing _his_ mother, a little different scenario but that same waiting game.

Lightning was so distraught when they got there, to calm him down at all, they did something they used to do with Lyn when she was little and upset. They sandwiched him in-between them on the couch, each with an arm around him.

Emily was trying her best to comfort him, until he finally pulled the kid right into him.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat it Aaron, there is a very real chance you're going to lose your mom." He got a mighty wail from that and heard the kid cry he was going to be completely alone in the world.

"No you're not, we're not going anywhere. We'll be here until you're sick of us and even then we'll still be here. You are family, we'll be here until the end. Now I know you might not want to talk about it, but I want you to tell us everything that happened when you were contacted about your mom."

He explained how he came home to an empty house which he had expected, his mom always got groceries after work on Fridays, and she'd pick pizza or KFC, or just some sort of take out dinner. A treat for the end of the work and school week.

He said how he was starting to get nervous when she wasn't home at eight, because she was normally home sooner than that even when she got groceries. By the time it was nine he was getting antsy, he had eaten something already because it was getting late.

How it wasn't long after ten that a police officer had knocked on the door to tell him his mom was in the hospital, and how it felt like his world was crashing in around him.

How he only remembered the officer asking him if he had anyone he could call, which he said he did obviously. It was only after the officer left that he phoned them.

He had taken his suggestion and phoned both Lynda and Stephen, talking to each of them for an hour each. He had tried to sleep but couldn't, and since he couldn't, he tried phoning Smokey and had talked to him for a bit.

He didn't think he had been off the phone for long before they arrived, but he didn't know, time had kind of lost all meaning by that point.

Getting him talking about it had noticeably gotten him to calm down, the more he spoke the less panicked he had become. He was still emotionally distraught but was calming down enough that he might be able to sleep a couple hours.

Emily had been either rubbing Lightning's leg or his back as he talked, which had helped the kid too. As he was starting to slow down, Em had left to go get a couple of pillows and a blanket or two, so they could ease him into a sleeping position.

He knew he wouldn't be getting up very soon.

It didn't take them long to get the kid into a sleeping position. They place his head on his lap with a pillow on it and got him to lay out his legs in the direction Em had been sitting in. He was asleep quickly after that.

It definitely had brought him back to doing similar things for Lyn and Stephen when their parents divorce was in full swing.

Watching Lightning sleep, he could see the resemblance to his half siblings clearly and it didn't seem to help that Alex had a type; from trying to flirt with his sister, to the darker hair and bright blue eyes that the kid had inherited, his darker hair also made him look more like Lyn. If there wasn't the dramatic age difference, it would be visibly noticeable that they're siblings. As it was the two might pass as mother and son instead of half siblings because of age difference.

He was so young to be losing his mother. They had grown up in two very different eras, but were living through similar events with him losing his mother.

He played gently with the kid's hair, as Em came to check on them. They didn't need to speak, he was doing fine yet, he had gotten some sleep before he was woken up to leave. He knew she had been able to sleep for an hour on the plane, they'd be toast by the end of the day, but they'd be able to manage.

After the kid had been out for a couple hours when Emily had pulled up a chair beside him and in low tones they talked about what they were going to do if Elizabeth didn't pull through. By the time he was starting to wake up they had a plan of action in place. He woke up to them talking about retrieving more clothes from home.

He noticed the kid shifting more and removed his arm from where it had been resting.

"How'd you sleep kiddo?" Lightning sat up and rubbed his eyes. He just kind of shrugged in response to his question.

"I'm kind of hoping last night was a nightmare and that you're here just for a visit, but that doesn't seem very likely."

"Unfortunately not Lightning."

"Right now, it's a waiting game on whether she will pull through or not."

"Just know, we'll be here for you the entire time."

"Really?"

"Of course kiddo. I know all too well what you're going through. I lost my mom right around your age. Little different circumstances, as my mom was ill, but it's that same uncertainty of whether she'll pull through or not. This may be more sudden, as there wasn't any lead up before the accident, but that hurt of knowing you're possibly losing your only parent is the same. You're not going to be alone though, not ever."

"I'm going to go make breakfast. Any requests?" Emily said getting up.

"I'm not really hungry Aunt Emily." They shared a look over Lightning. A teenaged boy, not hungry? That definitely meant he was upset, and would probably eat more than he thought he would.

"I'm going to make something anyway. Jesse?"

"Whatever you find Em." He knew what she was doing, giving him sometime to talk to the kid alone.

He told the kid about how his father didn't make it through World War II. Leading into how he had lost his mom.

"When I lost my mom, I didn't have a large support group behind me. It was just my brother and sister. We were the only ones we had, though Henry may have leaned more on Joan than I realized then. They were together at that point.

There was a fair amount of uncertainty on whether my mom was going to pull through or not, to make it worse Ruth; my twin, was sick at the same time. So, we didn't know if either were going to pull through." He took a deep breath.

"Ruth did at that time, but our mom did not. The three of us grieved together, we weren't ready to lose her not when we had lost our father to the war just a few years prior. We did what we had to, to survive though. It was hard, and money was tight but we were able to find a new normal. We missed her everyday, still do, but you learn to live with the loss." He had to pause a moment before the next part, clearing his throat, then beginning.

"Ruth's death was harder in ways, she was my twin, my best friend, before I met your aunt, she was the only one I'd really open up to. The year that we lost her, she had been doing really good, which made her turn so much worse. She was in the hospital for weeks before she passed.

I had a larger support group then, but instead of leaning on my brother, Lou, River and Junior I locked everyone out. It didn't help anything." He looked hard at Aaron, this was important.

"Then with my crash and being told I wasn't going to be driving when I tried going back, left me bitter and took me years with Emily's help to work through it all. The point being we're here for you and burying your emotions doesn't help anything.

You have a huge support group behind you. All you have to do, is let us help support you. If she doesn't pull through, I need you to try to not completely withdraw into yourself. Think you can do that for us, to not completely withdraw on us?"

"Yeah, I can do that."

"Good." He clapped the kid's shoulder. It was going to be hard on him, but he was going to have more support than he knew what to do with.

It was only a matter of hours later, that they got word that Elizabeth hadn't pulled through. In someways, that was better. At least Lightning wouldn't have to wait unknowingly, whether she was going to pull through or not; for possibly weeks.

He had taken it upon himself to be the main comforter, as Emily made phone calls to the family to let them know that Lightning's mom had passed.

There had been a boat load of tears on Lightning's part, not being one to really hold in his emotions. With certainty more to come.

At the end of the day, they had gotten him into his own bed. He was completely emotionally drained and he could imagine how the kid was feeling. He and Emily watched him sleep from the doorway, tucked into each other's side.

Emily spoke lowly, not wanting to wake him. "And here I was thinking that you were allergic to tears. You're doing so well with him Jesse." She looked up at him.

"Well, he needs the comfort and I just so happen to know far too well the pain he's going through." He hugged her a little tighter to him.

"Either way, this is the most open I've seen you with anyone besides me. It's nice to see. Now, let's see if we can't get some rest ourselves."

* * *

This is probably going to be the last chapter for a while, life's about to get busy this holiday season and I won't have a lot of time to write until the new year now. Big things are happening for me, moving, mainly. I've got a lot of packing to do.

As a bonus, have this little piece that will probably never be extended.

They had dealt with all the funeral arrangements for the kid, and he took care of all of the legal stuff with Stephen.

"This poor kid dad, he's only a little older than my own kids, and in the past year he's had to learn that father wants nothing to do with him and loses his mom. At least he's got you and mom now."

"Doesn't mean it makes any of this easier for him."

"He'll be well cared for though. What are you and Aunt Emily going to do with him? Move him to Radiator Springs?"

"In the summer; this is his last year of high school, so he might as well finish it where he is. Relocating so soon probably wouldn't help anything. At least this way he can finish the year out surrounded by friends."


	19. Cookie Thief

So, a little bit of a break from The Slip, with sort of a little bit of a holiday themed chapter. I will be going back to The Slip after this chapter as I have about four more chapters that I want for it before moving onto other pieces again.

* * *

The whole family was over for the holidays. Kids ran throughout the old homestead, as adults gathered in the living room talking and laughing with each other. A handful of people were in the kitchen, prepping food for the week. Emily and Ruth were the main two, while Joan was working on something a little different than them, in a different part of the kitchen. He had popped into the kitchen for only a moment to see how everything was coming along.

Ruth was facing away from him, but had heard him enter, making a remark to Emily.

"If that's your husband, I'd keep eyes on him so he doesn't try running off with all the food. He has a history of taking awkward pieces when he does."

"That was once." He defended himself leaning in the doorway as Ruth turned around to face him, hands on her hips holding a spoon.

"Only because I never leave such baking unguarded again. It was for Henry, not you. Now out of my kitchen." She wagged the wooden spoon at him, using it as a pointer.

" _Your_ kitchen?" Raising his eyebrows, stepping further in.

"Yes _MY_ kitchen." She put her hands back on her hips. "You don't live here anymore. If you want to sulk around a kitchen, do it in your own, down the road." She pointed with the spoon towards his own house.

"But everyone is here, not there." He wined, crossing his arms.

"Not my problem."

"Why don't you go and join everyone then, instead of bugging us here in the kitchen?" His wife placed a hand on his shoulder to try and guide him out.

"You too Emily? Don't you love me?" He pouted.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Of course I love you, just not when you're here to try and steal food. Now shoo, off you go. Go visit with everyone who's here and keep those kids entertained and out the kitchen." Making a shooing motion with her hands, giving him a slight push to get him going. He didn't budge.

"What about this little one then?" He asked wrapping his arms from behind, around her small but growing belly. He could see Ruth watching on with Joan in fond exasperation, as Emily turned in his arms to look at him.

"That little one is just fine where they are right now. They aren't causing problems unlike their daddy." She looked at him pointedly.

"They're behaving for you for once." He didn't let go yet, but started spying some of those goodies he did originally come in to steal like Ruth implied.

"For today anyway." Emily sunk into his arms a bit as he rubbed her back for a moment or two.

"Second trimester is a little easier, you lose most of the morning sickness, but aren't as big as you'll get yet either. Cravings will start getting stronger, but at least now you'll be able to eat." Joan said, breaking her silence of letting his twin and wife deal with him. Emily turned towards Joan, and he used the distraction to his advantage, while his arms were still around her.

"Not having morning sickness to put up with all the time will be nice..." she stepped out of his arms and faced him arms crossed. "Jesse, hands off the food. You can wait like everyone else."

"No I can't, I'm hungry now."

"Baby. What are you going to do when your own little one comes?"

He sniffed. "You act like I can't cook Ruth."

"I know you can, but since you're not helping us now, get out the kitchen."

"As much as I love you, you are a bit distracting. You don't want the entire meal to be late because of you? Do you?" Emily raised an eyebrow at him.

That's when Henry decided to enter the kitchen. Going over to stand by his own wife, leaning against where she was working, hands beside him on the counter.

"What's going on in here? Noticed Jesse was taking too long to come back."

"Henry, they're picking on me." He crossed his arms.

"He's trying to sneak food again." Ruth said rolling her eyes.

"Quality control, don't want our guests to be overwhelmed by all the good food to hit something not as good."

"Okay, out of the kitchen NOW Jesse. My house, my rules. And no sneaking food!"

"See what I mean Henry?" He gestured to his twin.

"That's not my fault that you're trying to sneak food again. You've brought it on yourself. I'm staying out of it. About to become a father yourself, and still acting like the baby of the family." Henry shook his head.

"I do not."

"Yes you do!" Henry, Joan, and Ruth said together in unison.

He smirked. "At least Em agrees with me."

"I didn't say anything because I'm the baby of my family too." He pouted at her explanation.

"You don't act like it, unlike your husband. Your brother acts more like the baby." Henry said.

"Well, let's not talk about him shall we. Especially not when Lyn and Stephen are here."

He tried to sample something from Ruth's bowl when everyone was busy discussing who acted more like the baby of the family.

"Keep your fingers out of my bowl please." She warned him upon noticing what he was trying to do.

When he thought she wasn't looking he tried again. Only to be rewarded with her wooden spoon across his knuckles.

"Ow! Ruth!" he rubbed his knuckles as he glared at his sister.

"I told you to keep your fingers out of my bowl."

"Em, Ruth's abusing me and Henry, my protective older brother has left me to fend for myself."

"You poor thing you, you wouldn't have to deal with that if you weren't in the kitchen." Emily had her hands on her hips, looking at him.

"Fine, I can tell when I'm unwanted here. I'll leave now. Happy?" He sniffed as he asked, gathering a couple handfuls of cookies before starting out the kitchen.

"When we told you to leave, we meant without cookies." They called after him.

"Where's the fun in that?" He called back as he disappeared around the corner.

He nearly ran into Ruth's husband, booking it from the kitchen with his stolen stash of cookies.

"Are you stirring up trouble in my house?"

"Not your house. Ruth's. You can only call it yours because you married her. I'm one of the ones who actually grew up in it." He said, skirting around the man.

As he entered the living room, he drew the attention of all the kids, from the eldest being Stephen; who was about ten, to the current youngest, being Ruth's youngest kid, Gabe; who was going to be three soon.

The eight kids surrounded him, some of the littler ones were jumping up trying to see what he had in his hands.

"Settle down, if you keep swarming me I might trip and fall on you. And we don't want that now do we?" He got to where he wanted to be before looking around and crouching down to start sharing the goodies he grabbed. Sending a wink to Emily when he noticed her and Ruth watching him.

He sat on the couch once his haul was divided up, eating one of his few cookies he had left. It wasn't long after, that Emily came back from the kitchen looking to sit down. He made space beside him on the couch for her to sit. As Emily sat beside him, he offered her a cookie in truce, which she took as she snuggled into him.

The phone was ringing, but nobody was answering it. Why wouldn't anyone answer it. He didn't want to leave his pregnant wife's side.

The phone was still ringing as everything started to fade. He tried to cling to those last moments with Ruth and Emily, but the phone was too persistent to ignore anymore.

He wiped the tears that had spilled from his eyes as he got up to answer the phone.

"Hello?"

"Dang it Doc, it's a good thing you answered when you did. I was about ready to break down your door to make sure you were alright."

"I'm not dead yet. What do you want Michael? There must be reason you're phoning."

"Some crazy hot rodder tore up the road last night after a high speed chase into and through town. Need you to come down to the courthouse and be the judge for what to do with him."

"You have a time set already?"

"Yep. Everyone's going to be there. Almost all of us were affected and saw what happened." Michael told him the time and he promised he'd be there.

There wasn't nearly enough time for his liking this morning. He would have much preferred to spend the day alone, and not have to prepare for court.

He wanted to go back to his dream. He would have loved having Ruth and Emily gang up on him. For Emily to have had a successful pregnancy rather than the miscarriage they did have. He would have loved to see Ruth married and with kids, to still have had her at that point in his life.

His heart ached with the people he'd lost. That dream even brought back those feelings of guilt for leaving Henry and the others.

But there wasn't really time to dwell on all his feelings the dream brought up. No time to sulk when there was court to get to. He was going to drive, until he saw the condition of the road. No way was he driving the Hornet on that.

He gritted his teeth and drove back into his garage. He nearly stomped his way through town to get to the courthouse, his lips curling every time he caught sight of the road. He didn't know who this hot rodder was, but he wrecked his town, he was going to come down hard on him.

Michael called him out on his mood right away.

He just wanted to get this done with as soon as possible. He thoroughly expressed his thoughts as he entered the courtroom. Then he saw who the accused was.

A rookie Piston Cup racer.

He had kept up enough with the sport after Emily's death to know who the kid was. He didn't want anything to do with him. The sooner he was gone the better, but of course things just weren't going his way today. Sally convinced everyone to make him fix the road. Meaning he was going to be stuck with this racer in town for a week. There wasn't going to be a moment of peace until he left.

* * *

I think the original idea for this chapter came long before even Hard Enough Left had the chapter where Emily and Ruth sit together during a race. I think you could call this a little belated Christmas gift. Considering I didn't think I'd have anything for this time because of moving and painting. Happy Holidays!


	20. The Slip- An Office Visit

So, back to the Slip for a little bit and then it will be done for the time being. Here's some Doc and Lightning fluff-ish.

* * *

He had brought the kid with him to the office. It had been a couple months since he had lost his mother and thought the kid could use getting out of the house in a way that wasn't school related; plus he had to put an appearance in there anyway.

He figured that Lightning would probably find it interesting even if it was just the offices.

Lightning had followed him around like a well trained puppy throughout the day. On occasion he'd ask a few questions, clarifying what was going on. They had had lunch in his and Emily's shared office, away from the prying eyes in the building for a little bit, before moving on to do other things.

He had seen Joe watching the two of them throughout the day. Probably trying to figure out who the kid was and why he was letting him follow him. Though he left them be.

He and Lightning were back in his office at the end of the day, getting ready to pack up. They were some of the last ones in the building, making it fairly quiet.

"Uncle Jesse do you think I could do my job shadowing project for school here?" That question proved his earlier assumption.

"Wouldn't you rather be track side? Strip could probably take you for a day."

"Really?"

"I'm sure he would." He saw Joe passing by the door and motioned him to come in, he and the kid might as well meet. Joe had probably already figured some of it out anyways, he might as well get the real story.

Even though he was motioned to come in Joe knocked first.

"Come on in Joe, got someone here you might as well meet. This is Aaron McQueen, an aspiring driver once he's done school. Lightning, this is Joe Moore. He's been around this sport longer than I have. He was there when I started and hadn't taken a break from it all like I had."

Lightning stuck out his hand, not having to wait long for Joe to shake it.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Moore."

"You as well Aaron, or do you go by Lightning more?"

"By Lightning."

"Well Lightning, that seems like a fitting name for an aspiring driver."

"Uhh? Thanks." Joe just smiled back at him.

"I've got some business to discuss, nothing confidential, so you can listen in if you want." They started talking business for a couple minutes after the introductions. Once the kid got bored and moved out of hearing range, they lowered their voices.

"He's a polite kid."

"His mother did a good job of raising him."

"Oh?"

He moved a touch closer to Joe, watching Lightning study the things on the wall.

"His past year hasn't been an easy one. Right before his birthday last year, we came across him being accused by Alex of trying to break into his room. The kid didn't know who his father was, and Alex was trying to cover his tracks."

He paused for a moment. "The kid's born in _'84_."

He only spoke again when he knew the importance of that year registered on Joe's face.

"Alex tried to avoid admitting he's the kid's father, though he knew he was. His mother confirmed it."

He took a heavy breath. "Then to top it all off, he just lost his mother a couple of months ago due to a drunk driver. Em and I have become his guardians."

"At least he's got the two of you then. It makes sense as to why Emily and Lynda were so worked up when you got back that time." Joe was looking a bit harder at the kid now. Luckily he was currently studying his three Piston Cups.

"I'm starting to think the only reason Alex has children in the first place is so that Em and I could be parents. That's now 3 out of 4 of his kids we've ended up raising to some extent. This one's even named after me."

"All those articles, to hide him." Joe shook his head. "I always knew he was up to something, the only thing I got out of him the one day I confronted him was that it was to humiliate you, for daring to take his place." He rolled his eyes. "Emily's really done with Alex now isn't she?"

"Doesn't even refer to him as her brother anymore if she can help it. You'll probably be seeing more of him around now, he'll be coming back to Radiator Springs once he's done with school. We'll see you around Joe."

"See you Jesse." Joe shook his hand before leaving the office.

He clapped a hand on the kid's shoulder. "Alright there kiddo, ready to go?"

"You bet." He draped his arm around Aaron's shoulders as they left the office, grateful the day out of the house seemed to brighten the kid from where he had been.


	21. The Slip- Thee Old Track

In celebration of getting internet hooked up after I've moved, you guys get a new chapter that I'm excited to share with you. I've certainly never hidden the fact that every part of Extended Connections has been inspired by Nurfhurder's stories and this chapter is no exception. It has a particularly close tie to Hard Enough Left chapter five. (AKA, a slight suggestion to go read that particular chapter afterwards.)

* * *

He and Emily hadn't told the kid what they were doing in Thomasville. He just thought he was being dragged along for a family visit to see Henry and be mobbed by the other three once they caught wind of their visiting.

They all knew the kid wanted to race, and they were all ready to give Aaron more tips and training than he know what to do with.

He had told them what he told Lightning. He wouldn't be going anywhere near a current Piston Cup track until he could handle himself on dirt. He had added for their benefit that first Lightning had to master the basics before getting fancy with any additional training.

He hadn't started anything with Aaron yet, but did have Mater taking him out to practice his reversing. Since Mater had perfected that art as a bored young man.

He could have probably started some training with Lightning out at the Butte, but it didn't hurt the kid to wait a bit. Save him from the cactus patch in the beginning anyway.

He'd have thought Christmas had come early when they started to get ready to go to the track. Lightning didn't even know what they were doing there yet.

"Are you coming Aunt Emily?"

"No, I believe this is a boy's only trip, but I'll see you at lunch."

He gave Emily a kiss where she was sitting before they left. Both her and Joan called out well wishes of having fun as the door closed.

Aaron didn't stop talking the whole way there in his excitement to see his old track. When they got there, Lightning wanted to go off ahead.

"Hold on there Kiddo, we have to get a set of keys for where we're going and doing."

"Why?"

"We're here to start training."

"Really?"

"That's what he claimed he was coming here for. Not just to visit his brother, always has to have some sort of reason to come out this way." He ignored his brother's grumbling and the kid's snickering at it.

He had a set of keys to retrieve, a bit safer stored than they once were. Something that may have been in part to him and Henry.

As he locked the place back up, he couldn't help let out a huff of amusement. Lightning was sharing his enthusiasm about getting to learn and practice in the same place he did. He shook his head remembering his own excitement.

Henry looked at him odd. "What're you huffing about?"

He tossed the set of keys he had just gotten and caught them.

"Nothing." He didn't look like he believed him. "It's nothing Henry. C'mon, we've got a kid who needs to learn how to turn on dirt."

oOoOoOo

Jesse wanted to see how the kid would handle the car with only a little guidance first. He was keen to see how the kid would do himself.

"Take her around slower the first couple of times. Get a feel for the car and what you're driving on, then you can pick up speed to see how it handles." After those basic instructions, Jesse joined him leaning against the railing. They watched him silently for a moment, never taking their eyes off the car.

"So, you gunna tell me what you found so amusing back there?"

"You gunna sound like a parent every time you ask me a question?" He could hear the raised eyebrow without looking.

"I _am_ a parent, and I _had_ played in part, a parental type figure to _you_. So the answer is likely a yes."

"Just thinking about keys." He looked towards his brother to see him repressing a smirk.

"Keys, you were thinking about keys?" He didn't quite believe that.

"Yep." Jesse let the smirk drop and pushed himself off the rail as the kid spun out. He followed shortly after, shaking his head about why Jesse would find keys so amusing. Coming up to the pair as Jesse finished giving some convoluted explanation.

"You got anything to add for advice?"

"Didn't hear what you told him really. Just don't try getting too fancy yet. Showing off comes later."

"Somehow I feel like that's a dig at me."

"Because it is. You were a show off, still are in ways."

"Let's get back to the task on hand." The kid hadn't seemed to have minded by his amused expression. They finished giving him the instructions they came to give him before going back to the rail. Letting the kid figure out what they told him.

"This sure feels familiar." He said rolling his neck and shoulders.

Jesse scoffed at him. "I'm sure it does with how much time you spent doing with me."

"And don't you forget it."

Over the course of the morning they both took turns stopping the kid to tell him different things he could try to do.

He wasn't much different in age to Jesse when he started.

He heard Jesse call the kid by his name again.

He had to shake his head again while watching Jesse, and the kid named after him. Aaron, Alexander Piston's youngest known kid, was not only named after his brother, but now was being raised by him too. The world was surely a funny place.

"Hey Henry?" He hadn't noticed Jesse make it back to leaning on the railing after the kid had started again.

"Yeah?"

"Looks like I own it all now." He turned to face his smirking little brother who was looking at him out the corner of his eye.

"You little punk." He shoved his brother's shoulder.

"That's what you were thinking of. You're gunna be the death of me yet." Jesse's smirk had turned more into a smug grin as he rolled his shoulders.

"Haven't yet, and I've put you through a lot worse."

"How good of you to admit so." He rolled his eyes as Jesse clapped his shoulder before heading to stop the kid.

"Time to break for lunch, don't want the wives to get upset with us being late."

He shook his head, grumbling before joining them. "Of course that's where he's leaving this."


	22. The Slip- New Champion

Lightning, under Doc's tutelage, becomes the first rookie to win the Piston Cup. Sorry, this is the line that inspired this chapter, and I just really like it and wanted to include it in some way.

* * *

He had worked the kid hard before even letting him near a certified Piston track to race.

All their hard work and training had paid off and it showed this season.

The kid had gotten some of the best training around. Both him and his brother, Lou, River, and Junior had all had a hand in it. Not to mention what Strip taught his young brother-in-law even knowing full well that he could be racing against him in a few years. Which they did end up doing this year.

He had wound up being Lightning's crew chief after begging and coaxing on both Aaron's and Emily's part. The kid had brought up some valid points in his argument; to which he had admitted to getting Sally to help him with them.

"You've already helped trained me. I know how you work and you know how I work. That's already half the job, how much different can being my full crew chief be? It's not like you don't know the sport. Uncle Jesse, please? I like hearing your advice and I don't want to have to get to know someone else's style when I already know yours. Racing is a family thing for us anyway."

He had given in. Lightning wasn't exactly wrong, he had practically begged Henry for the same thing. Besides he knew it would be interesting to be track side again, and it was.

They had created quite the stir this season.

In part, it was due to him being the kid's crew chief, and that they kept as much of his history out of the media as possible. Though how the kid was doing his rookie year had sure helped too.

It had been speculated early in the season that he'd be in the running for the Cup. They even went so far as to speculate that he might be the first official rookie to win the cup. Something he had ended up proving right.

Everyone had taken to comparing the two of them together, saying how Lightning was a chip off the old block to him.

He couldn't be more proud of the kid then he was. He didn't let the fame get to his head, and he in turn was able to keep his genetic arrogance in check and under control. All he had to mention to the kid was, look where his father's arrogance left him. Alone and discredited.

It made him glad to see that Lightning was making friends with some of the other racers, and with Cal Weathers soon to be racing too, he was going to be surrounded by friends. Furthering him all the more from his father.

Lightning hadn't made it back to their pit space yet, due to having been caught by some of those already made friends, fellow racers, and fans alike who wanted to congratulate him on winning his first Piston Cup; his rookie year no less. That's when he saw Alex pushing himself through the crowd to his pit space, he was glad the kid wasn't back yet.

"What do you want Alex?" He continued with what he had been doing which was packing up. Alex was scanning the crowd, obviously trying to look and see if a certain someone was nearby.

"I want to congratulate my son on winning."

"I don't see Bernard around, and he doesn't race, so I don't know how we can help you."

"You know which one I mean."

"I don't think that I do." He crossed his arms as he straightened up, now staring hard at his brother-in-law. He went on to explain.

"You only have two sons that you claim and Stephen doesn't see you as his father figure, so that leaves Bernard."

"You know very well I mean the McQueen kid." He knew full well that's what he was fishing for. He just hoped Aaron would not be back before he could get rid of Alex.

"Legally, I'm his designated guardian along with Em. Not you. If you were to have claimed him, you should have done so before he was born instead of trying to cover him up, or instead of trying to have him arrested. Therefore, you have denied him too many times to have any claim over him. He is mine in all the ways that matter, just like Lyn and Stephen."

He was giving Alex his full attention now, and the crew around them had slowed down watching this confrontation. This time Alex would not be escaping his pent up frustrations.

"You never made your own name, instead riding on your father's coattails. I will not allow you to ride on his coattails like you had with your father. He has already out shone you, he's won his first Piston Cup by his own merits, not needing someone to crash to win one." The crew had started gathering around them protectively.

"Face it you're the one who has always been the has been, long before your racing career was done. Even your 15 minutes of fame followed mine and was attached to me. You've always been everything that you have called me. _You've_ always been the washed up glory hog who hasn't found their glory, a sore loser to the first degree, and the no good who abandons his wife and children. I'm sure there was more but it's time for you to _leave_ _**my**_ pit space."

"It's not your pit space." Alex grumbled.

"At this moment it still is, and will be until we're gone. Now, if you don't want to be forcefully removed from the area, now would be an excellent time to leave."

It was only then that Alex seemed to notice how the crew had gathered around them, looking all too willing to escort him away. He stormed away as it was clear he would not be getting what he wanted. Not one of them moved until they were sure Alex was gone and wouldn't be returning.


	23. Sibling Squabbles

Just a real short little chapter here. Exploring a little of Lynda and Bernard's relationship. Dialogue heavy, but I do believe this is the first bit you getto see the youngest and middle child interact together.

* * *

"You know, there's no way in hell, that Uncle Jesse won't be outed by Weathers."

"Bernie, you're sounding like dad. I hate it when you start sounding like dad." She stared blankly at him leaning against the doorframe.

"I'm not trying to be like dad, I'm just pointing out that if you ever plan on him meeting Uncle Jesse, he's going to recognize him. We are talking about your boyfriend Strip Weathers here; he did a report on him in school. Do you know how awkward it was to be in the same class as him for the rest of the year after that? And now he's dating my little sister. Do you really have to call me Bernie still?" He pushed himself off the wall.

"Yes I do." She crossed her arms. "What do you have against nicknames? You only ever call me Lynda, or are you still sore that Uncle Jesse called you Bernie? And you made it awkward yourself, bragging about dad like you did. That's not my fault. Speaking of dad, aren't you supposed to be meeting up with him today?"

"Yes, but he's going to be late anyway. He's back together with Karen." He crinkled his nose at the thought, and she did the same.

"I thought mom was taking you shopping for a dress to that racing event Aunt Emily is coming to? And I'll have you know, I have an aversion to nicknames unless it's dad and even then nowadays I'm not overly fond of it from him either."

"Ah ha. Nice to know he's late for his favourite child too. I don't want to hear about that. Mom was, but one of her girlfriends is having a _midlife crisis_ or something, so I'm on my own for that. And you always wondered why Stephen and I think of Aunt Emily and Uncle Jesse as more of parents. If they set time aside for us they actually are on time and are there."

"Yeah, but for the most part we have to go to them, because Uncle Jesse doesn't like to travel a lot in case he gets recognized."

"You still don't like to admit how much our parents aren't that parent like?"

"They're still our parents, even if they don't act like it." He rolled his eyes like it was obvious, leaning against the wall again.

She shook her head. "Well as nice as it is to start arguing about our parents, again, I do need to go find a new dress, because mom will not allow me to show up in one I already have this time." She said gathering her coat and purse.

"And you want to impress Strip. I'm pretty sure you've already bagged him, he follows you around enough."

"Bernard! You're just awful, talking like that. You make it sound like I was after his social status or name."

"I'm just saying that one day, maybe not soon, but one day he's going to ask you to marry him. And dad will be a hard sell."


	24. Story Time With Granddad- Titanic

So, who's up for a bit different of an AU, one that doesn't play within the cannon timeline? I think there's three of you who knew this AU was coming and got a little bit of a preview. One of you doesn't count as you've helped me play and figure out this. I plan on giving a different take on this one as well, but for now, let me introduce you to a version of the Titanic AU. This piece should be a bit more cute than overly sad.

* * *

They were both well into their 90's now, and still surprisingly agile for their ages. Emily seemed a bit more frail than him, but they both could be considered a healthy weight and not just skin and bones. They definitely didn't have the strength they used to though.

Neither of them drove anymore, so Aaron had come to pick them up for their anniversary party. The entire family wanted to celebrate their 70 years of marriage.

Sometimes it was hard to believe it had been that many years. They certainly had their trials and tribulations throughout their years, but they had made it this far. Farther than what some had ever thought they would.

It was amazing to see how much of their extended family came. Stephen, Bernard, Lynda, their spouses and kids. Henry and Joan's kids had come with their own kids, and Ruth and John's kids and grandkids. Of course Aaron was the one who brought them, so his little girl and his wife were there along with his parents.

Emily's brother had passed years ago, his own siblings had passed over the last few years. In some ways it was amazing Ruth had made it to her 90's as she had always battled with her illness. Then John had passed only a couple years back. They missed most of them, though he certainly didn't miss her brother. But they were here to celebrate their anniversary, not miss those who were gone.

They received rounds of congratulations for hitting their 70th. They had a love-seat of honour that they could make use of once they got tired of standing or walking around.

Once they had both sat down, Jess came and crawled up to snuggle between the two of them. Their little great granddaughter.

He could already tell that she was going to follow in her daddy's footsteps. She was just as enthralled by racing as Lightning was at her age.

"Granddad? Tell me a story?" She asked after she had gotten his attention by poking his arm.

"What story do you want to hear sweet pea?" She studied him in the way only a four year old could, sticking her tongue out just a little as she thought.

"I wanna hear about how you and grandma met."

"Well, that's certainly suitable for today isn't."

"If only John were here to tease us about it."

"Mmm, now it was a long-"

"Wait!" The little girl screeched. "I wanna get daddy so he can hear it too."

She squiggled from where she was and darted off to find her father. They watched as Jessica darted around looking for her father. He searched out Emily's hand while watching Jess run, and kissed the back of it.

"I have a feeling that I'm going to be telling more than just how we met."

"I have a feeling it will be to more people than just our grandkids." He nodded his head in agreement.

Jess was dragging Aaron along with her, with Sally following behind, grinning while watching her husband be dragged over to them. A few of the others had noticed the commotion and followed to see what was happening.

Jess let go of her dad's hand once she got back to them, and crawled back into where she was.

"Okay granddad, I'm ready now." People had figured out what was happening and had pulled up chairs. He waited until everyone seemed to be done and he started.

"It was a long, long time ago. It was before you were born," he poked her in the stomach a little to make her giggle, "before your daddy was born, and before his mom was born. Over 70 years ago now, and it all started when your Uncle John and I switched ship crews. We were on the SS New York, but switched over to the Titanic so we could get home sooner. The Titanic, from what I saw of it, truly was a magnificent ship of it's time. Before we left I had to go to the bridge for my first shift of the trip, I didn't want to be late, so I was rushing. Can you guess what happen because I was trying to rush?"

"Did you bump into someone?" Jess's little eyes were round.

"I did, and do you know who it was?" She shook her head.

"It was grandma, with her grandmother, Nanna. I said sorry for bumping into her, and left on my way. That was the first time we had ever seen each other." He lowered his voice conspiratorially for what he was about to say, everyone might be listening, but he was telling this for Jess. "Grandma at the time, didn't know what a ship's bridge was. She only learned that at a later time from me."

"Jesse! Are you ever going to let that go?"

"No, it was endearingly naive, and made for a good laugh." He looked Em in the eye.

"Seventy some years later, and you still find it amusing." Emily shook her head at him.

"Grandma, granddad, I wanna hear more of the story."

"Sorry sweet pea, we did go a little off topic, didn't we." Jess nodded her head.

"Now, where were we?" He looked thoughtfully into space.

"Bumped into grandma."

"Ah, we didn't see each other for a couple days after that, and when we did, Uncle John and I were working a lifeboat. The Titanic had hit an iceberg and was sinking. Grandma, her mom, Nanna and eventually her dad all ended up in our lifeboat. I had helped grandma get in and later helped warm up her hands a bit; it was too cold for my liking." He held her hand, he wouldn't let go until after they were done.

"Uncle John was teasing him about missing the Georgian heat, while granddad was calling him Mr. Used to Winter." He gave his wife a side glance.

"Don't look at me like that Jesse, you know John would have brought it up." She rubbed her thumb over his hand. He admitted his defeat, they might as well add those missing add-ins that John would have made. He almost missed the teasing.

"He would have. We watched from the lifeboat as the ship sank. It was cold, dark and no fun at all."

"Granddad? Grandma? Were you scared?"

"Terrified." He gave Em's hand a squeeze, and she gave him one back.

"So scared, granddad was scared, but you couldn't tell. He and Uncle John were in charge of the lifeboat and they did a very good job of keeping calm while being terrified." With her free hand, Emily brushed through Jess's hair.

"Once the sun started to come up, we were rescued. A ship called the Carpathia had come to help, everyone on the lifeboat was taken on board and taken care of."

"Granddad even came around to make sure we were alright, if we had been on his lifeboat. Even when he should have been getting sleep himself."

He saw heads shaking at that. At the time he had needed to know their passengers were fine, even above his own health.

"I slept for a good 12 hours after that. I was incredibly restless after I woke up. There was nothing for me to do. So, I took to making rounds, visiting everyone who was on my lifeboat, sometimes with Uncle John, sometimes without."

Jessica let out a small yawn. "Did you visit grandma?"

"Of course. Grandma, her daddy, and her Nanna, all become very fond of me, quite quickly." He looked towards his wife just in time to see her roll her eyes.

"It wasn't as quick as you make it seem. Nanna's fondness began when you first bumped into me with your polite response, sending her into a lecture of manners over money." She had been looking at Jess, before he spoke again, looking directly at her.

"That's something that you took to heart."

"Shush you, I'm not finished. Daddy's fondness started when you told him you'd find him and did. Mine started sometime on the lifeboat I'm sure, though Nanna may have planted a seed in the beginning there."

He looked back down at the little girl beside them. "Let's just say as much as I checked on grandma and her family, they checked on me, particularly grandma."

"Was I? I don't think that I was."

"Mmm, that's not what John would say. Even then he said you were fawning over me, and nothing I said could convince him otherwise. I tried to tell him you were just being friendly, then he used that against me for years."

"If I didn't know the story behind that, I'd exclaim that's where it came from. I might have just slightly, been fawning over you. You did rescue daddy, and made sure I was in the lifeboat."

"What happened after you left the ship?" Jess yawned again.

"Grandma and I kept in contact by writing letters and visiting. We eventually got married and had your daddy's mom, who grew up to marry your daddy's dad, much to the pleasure of Uncle John. They eventually had your daddy, who married your mom, and they in turn had you."

"Grandma? Can you tell me about after the ship?" Jess asked as she laid her head down on his lap, and he petted her hair.

"Mm, once off, I was talking with granddad before old friends came and scared him off. By the time I could go looking for him again, he had already been taken away to be asked questions about the sinking since he was crew." Jess let out another little yawn and snuggled further into his lap.

"I met Aunt Ruth for the first time. We sat together waiting for granddad to be returned. I told her my version of events of what had happened while we waited, only to find out that none of the crew were being released anytime soon. My daddy, Nanna and I, didn't go home until granddad could."

"She's asleep now Emily." He said softly.

"Tired from gathering everyone up for story time, I'm sure."

Aaron had gotten up and reached his arms out to his daughter.

"Here granddad, I can take her from you."

"She's fine where she is Aaron, she's not bothering me on my lap. Let her sleep." He waved him away.

"Okay, but if she starts getting to heavy or squirming too much, I can take her."

"I'm old Aaron, not decrepit. Let her cuddle, she's not the first one in this room to have fallen asleep on my lap, and there's very few here that can say that they haven't, you included. Most of those are spouses, and I've even had a few of them fall asleep on me."

"I get it."

"Are you sure?" He raised his eyebrows at him.

"Yes granddad."

"Emily, Jesse, what was it like when you first got married?" Sally asked.

"Hard. It takes a lot of getting used to living with a spouse especially when the two of you come from two very different worlds."

"I grew up as a high society girl, and never wanted for anything truly until after the Titanic. It was an eye opening experience, which made my life fuller afterwards. Jesse knows this, and it caused a bit of strife before we got married, but if it weren't for that sinking, I might have never looked twice at him."

"The mixing of our two classes didn't happen much in those days. The rich and high society married the rich and high society, and the poor married the poor. First class and third, were a rare combination and at times, the two different lifestyles clashed hard. Abigail was caught in the middle at times and while Nanna and Edward were good at not looking down, the rest of the family before I gained my captaincy, couldn't care less."

"Dad..."

"You were dear, and you didn't like your grandmother because you could tell she didn't treat you the same as your cousins." Emily said.

"Mom, I may have been caught, but I did enjoy my childhood. We've quite moved away from Sally's question now, about the beginning of your marriage."

"Mmm, right, I'm getting a bit more scatter brained these days. Well, I didn't know how to do anything besides a little bit of cooking, when we first got married. I was so lost and clueless about my new lifestyle. There were lots of tears in the beginning."

"That took a lot of adjustment for both of us, and arguing."

"We pushed through though. I just kept learning and we started to learn how to compromise with each other."

"You never seem to argue." Lightning stated.

"We've also been married for 70 years, we're quicker at finding compromises or conceding to each other. We still argue on occasion, but we've always kept a united front in public, we would have been torn apart if we hadn't." Emily explained.

"You've been married, what, five years Aaron?"

"Hey, it's been longer than that granddad, it's been eight." Lightning crossed his arms.

"Sorry, EIGHT years, that's nothing in comparison."

"Lightning, I doubt that there's any way to win what ever you think you're trying to win against your grandparents. They have the experience advantage."

"Sal!''

"Shh, don't wake Jess."

"Fine. Hey granddad, since we're talking about how you and grandma met, would you tell how mom and dad met?"

"You just want to torment your dear old dad, don't you son?"

"I don't know what you mean dad. Me? Torment you? Nah, I'd never purposefully do that."

"Right, because my son's too nice to ever do something like that."

"I think your mother would do a better job to tell this story, or even John used to tell it well."

"I'd like to hear your perspective granddad."

"Mmm, lets see then." He closed his eyes thinking back to that particular time. "Your mother was about 18 at the time making your father 21, a medical student. Something John wouldn't stop bragging about. He had a captain as a brother-in-law, and a nephew who was going to be a doctor. Ruth, your mom, and grandma were all on this trip, and it was fairly early on that it became obvious that we had a stowaway on board." At that he couldn't help but glare at said stowaway. Nick looked away sheepishly, good, he deserved to still feel sheepish about that.

"Abigail was the one to spot him and brought him to John."

"I just have to make mention that even if I hadn't recognized your name, I would still have recognized uncle John's influence on you by that bow. Also I know you must have known exactly who I was when I introduced myself, because Uncle John always talked about family."

"I did, I was really hoping you wouldn't know who I was though."

"Are you two done now? I do believe I was in the middle of telling a story."

"Yes daddy."

"Yes sir."

"Good. John in turn brought him to me to be dealt with. He was assigned cleaning duties throughout the ship, and a certain young lady at the time took to following the stowaway around distracting him from what he should have been doing. Abigail coaxed John to give her Nick's address so she could send him letters. And as John so often liked to say, it always starts with letters."

* * *

Happy April Fool's Day! Like I said at the top, you will be seeing a different version of this. It'll have some parts that are similar, but quite a few changes too. As well as it being much longer.


	25. After The Tie Breaker

Lynda had practically raced down with Tex after the race.

She needed to see Strip after his crash, to see that he was alright or that he was going to be.

She did get to talk to him quickly once Lightning finished pushing him off the track and before the medics took over. Once she was confident her husband was coherent and would live, which by what he was saying he was, she moved out of the way for the medics.

Lightning was out of his car when she went over to thank him. He had his helmet off and looked a little shaken from Strip's crash.

"Lightning, I just want to thank you for what you've done, it means a lot." She gave him a kiss on the cheek, not expecting him to understand everything that thank you meant.

"He's going to be alright, is he?"

"He's gonna be just fine."

Tex started walking over after checking on Strip himself, she knew he was going to want to talk to Lightning, so she left the young man and went to see her uncle and the folks from Radiator Springs. Mater saw her first.

"There's Miss Lynda! Hi Lyn."

"Hi Mater, its been awhile." They hugged, everyone greeted her with enthusiasm and asking if Strip was alright, she told them he was as alright as he could be after a crash like that.

Then there was her uncle.

"Hello Lyn, shouldn't you be over with your husband?" He nodded over to Strip's location.

"Aren't I allowed to come over and say hi to my uncle who's come out of hiding?"

"Well your husband was just in a pretty serious crash."

"And right now the paramedics are looking him over and loading him onto a stretcher to go into the ambulance, I don't want to be in the way. I'm not going to be over here long, I just wanted to see you, since you're here." She put a hand on her hip to make her point.

"Here I am, now why don't you go back over there and phone me once you know just what has happened to him."

"Uncle Jesse!"

"I know, I know, come here." He wrapped his arms around her and she buried her head into his shoulder. "Better?"

"Much, thank you daddy."

"Come now Lyn, dry those eyes," he wiped her tears away. "He's gunna be just fine. There's a lot more protection in those cars now then there was for me."

"I know, and I was talking to him, he says hi by the way and that he promises he didn't try to go out in style."

"Is that what he calls it? I'd keep that classification, secret. Now, go be with your husband. Once you know what hospital they're taking him to, and he gets checked out you can phone and get all caught up."

"Good because I want to know what happened this past week, with how the kid got you to do something mom never could."

He gave her a gentle push towards her husband. "Go, Lyn, we'll catch up in a different setting than beside the track."

"Okay, I'm going but I'm holding you to that."

"I wouldn't expect anything else."

"What was Lynda Weathers over here for?"

"To say hello, get comfort, take your pick."

"Why?"

"What are you? Five? Because her husband just had a fairly serious crash that she watched happen." Doc sighed at the sight of the kid's face.

"She's my niece, rookie."

"Wait! What?! Lynda Weathers, wife to The King, is your niece. What other secrets do you have hidden?"

"I'm sure there's a few of them."

oOo

When he got down to the pits the rookie McQueen was talking with Tex Dinoco, everyone was being held back as the track medics were getting Weathers out of his car and strapped onto a gurney, while Lynda was over talking to her uncle. He watched from the distance for a bit, until Lynda started heading back to her husband who was now secured to the gurney, sitting up right and talking to the press of all things. He always did have a cool head on his shoulders, not one to rile up easily. He didn't want to stop her from going to her husband, so he joined her.

"Uncle Joe, it's been awhile since you've been down here."

"I thought it would be right to come down and check on you and Strip after that race ended like that. Though I was going to come down to see your uncle anyways."

"I guess there's no real reason to keep calling him Uncle Aaron then, is there?" She smiled ruefully. He smiled back at her shaking his head.

"No, not really; besides, I've known who he was since your wedding and even then it didn't truly surprise me."

"I was horrible at keeping secrets when little, wasn't I?"

"No worse than your brothers, you all had said something that lead to my conclusion to that."

"Thank you for not saying anything."

"It's not my place to say anything about that. I'm sure he had his reasons for wanting to stay out of the spotlight. I have a feeling how he was treated after his crash had part to do with it."

"It did."

They were quiet for a moment, before he spoke again.

"Your father threw a right fit when I let him in."

"I'm sure he did." She said rolling her eyes. They had made it to Strip now.

"How're you doing there son?"

"Well, I've certainly have been better, but I'm a lot better than I could be too."

"That's good to hear. You just had to take a play out of Lynda's uncle's book to make your last race memorable, huh? It would have been memorable enough without you crashing you know?"

"Well, if you're going to go out, might as well do so in style. Not like I crashed on purpose, now did I?"

"That McQueen kid is something else, isn't he?"

"He certainly is, something big happened to him in Radiator Springs, he's not quite the same anymore."

"I think it's obvious, he and dad are good for each other. He got Uncle Jesse to actually come and participate in a race. Not even Aunt Emily could get him near anything race related."

"Lyn, I think we're long over due for a visit to Radiator Springs."

"You're right, we are. Once you're all healed up and cleared for travel, we'll take a road trip."

"That sounds like a wonderful way to kick off retirement."

Joe left Strip and Lynda as they started talking off on a tangent, and made his way over to the Rust-eze tent from one legend to another of mythic qualities.

"Consider me your official welcome back committee. You got a minute to talk?"

"Might as well." Jesse said shrugging.

"Lynda told me about Emily, I was sad to hear that she had passed. Your brother-in-law threw a fit when I let you in."

"I'm sure he did. How long have you known?"

"Lynda's wedding was what cinched it, but I had an inkling of an idea before that. First time I spent anytime with Lyn she kept telling me about you, she had such trouble calling you Aaron at first. She liked hearing that Louise Nash had beat her father in a race."

"She always did liked hearing about Lou."

"Guess I also wanted to say that I never did care about how they handled you not racing anymore. We shouldn't have blindsided you like that. Know that might be a bit late, but it's always bothered me."

"You did your best, I could never fault you for that."


	26. The Making of a Book

So think way back to when Lightning found Doc's journals and his note taped to them, this is what he's done with them.

* * *

It had taken him a long time to type out all of Doc's notebooks.

It didn't help that he always had to stop and take a break when he started to tear up at the emotional parts. It didn't matter how many times he read them, there were three main parts he always teared up at; those being the events surrounding Ruth's death, Doc's crash- leading up to his rejection from the sport, and lastly the death of Doc's wife Emily Piston.

It was plain to see Doc's emotions at those points, as his writing had changed from his normal neat and concise cursive to a messier scrawl that looked rushed. Ruth's death was the worst of the three, which made him want to cry harder when he realized why the writing had changed.

It was his refusal to get any tears on those notebooks that slowed him down. He was not going to run the risk of tear stains on the pages, making the ink run and bleed. Another reason it took him so long was because he had to sneak in the time to type it; he didn't want anyone to know what he was doing before it was finished.

He felt accomplished once it was typed up. He had bought himself a good printer with a supply of ink and paper, to print a copy for everyone he thought should get to read it first, before he even tried to send it to get published.

He had 15 people that he thought should get a copy. That was everyone living in Radiator Springs when he crashed through town, and the three Piston kids, including one for The King.

Once he had the copies printed out, including those he'd be sending to different publishers, he was ready to share.

He offered an invitation to the Piston siblings and their families to stop by Radiator Springs again, without giving them a reason why.

Bernard declined and even upon telling him why the invitation had been offered, he still declined. He had accepted the offer of a copy of the soon to be book, so he mailed it out to the middle Piston sibling. Stephen and Lynda had accepted the offer to visit though, and once they were in town he gathered everyone he wanted to give a copy to into Flo's.

He made it so he was the last one of the group to enter the Cafe, carrying his box of copies. Without saying anything to anyone, he handed out each one, getting bemused looks, if not questioning him right out about what he was doing. He didn't answer until everyone had a copy.

"That-" he told them, pointing to one someone was holding theirs up higher, "is a labour of love, and tears. What you are holding is Doc's life story. He wrote it out before he passed, and I typed it up."

He went on to explain how he had come across the journals with Doc's note, after having found the tapes of his first week in Radiator Springs. He told them of how only a few pages in he knew he wanted to get it published, but thought they should all get the chance to read it first because there could be some parts that might be embarrassing to some.

Before any of them had even more than quickly glanced through it, he was gaining their blessings to go through with it. Now that he had the approval from those who were some of the closest people to Doc, he could go through with getting it published.

He had it sent to a couple of different publishers who jumped at the chance to publish The Fabulous Hudson Hornet's story. Especially since Doc was always seen as such an enigma to the public.

Once he accepted a deal from the one publisher, they asked for a few extra things before they would publish it as a book.

They wanted his ideas on what the cover should look like, if there was something he wanted to do for a dedication, and perhaps in someway more importantly they asked him to write a foreword for the book.

It was a request he couldn't turn down.

Before he got a chance to even think about writing the foreword though, they sat him down with a design team to work on the cover. He knew it shouldn't be too flashy. While Doc may have been flashy in his youth, the Doc he knew didn't care so much about flash.

He knew it had to have the Hornet on the cover though. It was an absolute must. He described his thoughts about the cover and it turned out better than he could have imagined.

They had done up a few samples, but one stuck out to him the most. It was a mainly black background with the front of the Hornet, unadorned of its racing regalia with Doc's name on the licence plate. With simple yellow lettering across the top stating the title. His own name under the Hornet's bumper by the driver's side tire.

It was perfect.

It felt like an incredibly fitting look for Doc's life story.

He wasn't sure what to do about the dedication though. In someways he thought it should be dedicated to him, but felt like that would come across self-indulgent because he was the one putting this all together.

So he went to Sally to get her opinion of it.

"Hey Sal? Do you think it would be weird to have a dedication to me, if I'm the one writing the foreword for it?"

"Not really Stickers, he wrote it for you. There wouldn't have been a book like it if it weren't for you. Plus, your dedication is already written. All you have to do is photocopy or take a picture of your note from Doc and have them use that. Then it's even in Doc's writing, and if people _do_ voice concern about it, people can't as easily dispute it."

It was a wonderful solution to his dilemma. The best part was that the publishers loved it.

A picture of Doc's note would be the dedication.

That just left him with the foreword to write. He had a few false starts and a couple times he got halfway through before abandoning it, not liking where it was going. Eventually though, he made it to the point where he was happy with it.

oOo

This is the autobiography of Jesse Hudson. Sometimes known as; The Fabulous Hudson Hornet, Hud, Hollywood, Dr. Aaron Hudson, Dr. Jesse A. Hudson, the Honourable Doc Hudson (as I first met him), or simply Doc.

This book was written by him, giving his perspective on his life, to clear up speculations and rumours that have always floated around him since his crash.

I honestly think the only reason we have this book, is because of a conversation Doc and I had about the literature that was out there on him.

I was basically complaining that every book always ended with him disappearing. While he brought up the fact that from everyone else's perspective that's exactly what happened.

His own beefs were more along the lines that his siblings didn't get the credit they were due, making it seem like he had left Thomasville directly after his crash, and that he always thought that they put way too much focus on the crash itself. With all the focus that they put on his crash, Doc felt that they were defining his career by that. Not his three Piston Cups or his title of most wins in a single season.

After listing his reasons and saying something about if they weren't there, they didn't really know what happened. I then asked why he didn't just write one himself. He didn't like the idea. He was a very private person and didn't like the thought of his whole life being laid out.

I had what I considered a trump card to play yet.

If he wrote out his story, he could clear up all those misconceptions about him, put the focus where he thought it should be and give his siblings the credit he thought they were due.

(Which now he has done.)

Our conversation had ended after that. We never spoke of it again. I had never thought that anything would actually come from that conversation at the time.

I hadn't even known that he had written out his life story until after Doc had passed. Even then I only found his journals months afterwards.

I'm glad that he did though.

Through his journals which make up this book, I've come to know him so much better and understand more about how he became the grumpy and bitter older man I first met.

He did have every reason to be grumpy with me when we first met though. I had wrecked his town's road and I came from a world he had been deeply embroiled in but wanted nothing to do with anymore. Which meant he wanted nothing to do with me, but that didn't really work out for him. (Since he became my crew chief and all.)

After more than 50 years, I stumbled upon his secret and made him confront his past.

So, my getting lost rookie year not only straightened my priorities but solved the mystery of what happened to The Fabulous Hudson Hornet.

Doc was more to me than just my crew chief, he became my father figure, and hopefully it's not out of line to say that I became like a son to him.

I was hesitant about what to put for a dedication in this book, but after a talk with Sally (my girlfriend) she brought it to my attention that Doc had already taken care of that too.

Taped to his first journal was a note to me, and that note is what has become the dedication. It's a bit personal, but there is nothing that would fit better, because it's straight from Doc and even in his handwriting.

Doc doesn't dive much into his childhood years, instead starting shortly before his first ever race and win, before he even became The Fabulous Hudson Hornet.

There were definitely times where I cried when typing up Doc's journals. That is one thing I regret you won't be able to see, is the emotions that are shown through his writing.

There's probably a lot more I could say about Doc and this experience. Though if I continued to do so, it'd end up being a book of it's own.

My parting words before you begin are these.

Doc was my mentor, I will always miss him, but reading this, always makes me feel closer to him. Even though he had left the racing world behind he always had close ties to it, as you will soon know.

Rest in peace Doc, your story is being told the way you want it to be. I only hope you are with your family again.

Lightning McQueen


	27. The Slip- New Champion Interview

Because I seem to like writing interviews, here's another one with Lightning.

* * *

"Lightning McQueen, you've pretty much been a mystery to us all season. Essentially coming from out of nowhere, but have some big connections right out of the gate. Whether it be your crew chief or how familiar you are with the seven time champion; The King, Strip Weathers. Not to mention that you've made it a habit already, to not give a lot of personal information to the press."

"Can you really blame me? Look who I have for a crew chief. He's been badly burned by the press before. I might not have been born or old enough to have understood when all of that was happening, but I have seen how vicious some of those articles attacking him were. You never know what could later be used against you."

"Fair enough. Though, since we _don't_ know much about you, or what your family is like. Is there anything you'd be willing to share about your life before becoming a Piston Cup driver? Solve a little of the mystery of the newest Piston Cup champion?" A smile grew on his face as he was referred to as champion.

"Well, being a Piston Cup driver has been a life long dream, much to my mom's chagrin." His grin changed back into a softer almost wistful smile before becoming serious again.

"I don't _like_ talking about my family much. As it tends to brings up a lot of pain and drama."

"Would you tell us a little about your family anyway?"

He shrugged haphazardly.

"My mom was a single mother and she was pretty amazing at it. I wasn't necessarily the easiest kid to raise, often getting into things that were probably best left alone. But then all we had was each other. Until, right before my 17 birthday when I met my father for the first time." His expression hardened into a poker face that gave nothing away."

"That was hard." He paused.

"For someone who had always wanted to know about him, or just plain know him; seeing first hand how much he didn't want anything to do with me, hurt. Now I just avoid him like he did me." He didn't give them a chance to try to expand the fact that he had the chance to avoid his father.

"As much as it hurt, it did lead to gaining a great aunt and uncle, as well as some wonderful much older half siblings. It was good timing because about six months later, I lost my mom." He had brightened for a moment talking about part of his family, before swallowing hard after mentioning his mom.

"How-"

"She was hit by a drunk driver." He quickly answered.

"My new found family, rallied around me. As soon as my aunt and uncle learned, they flew half way across the country that night for me. My siblings let me talk to them for half the night over the phone, until my aunt and uncle got there. I had been highly encouraged to talk to them." He was looking down, obviously having a hard time with it.

"My aunt and uncle took me in, and I've been with them ever since. Other than my father, that side of my family has been incredibly supportive and I couldn't ask for a better family." A tight smile had come across his face.

"I noticed you avoided using any names-"

"My family doesn't need to be dragged through the press. Besides, anyone who knows me, knows my family." He was quick and firm, before turning it into a smirk, like the last thing he said was a joke.

"Alright then, how was earning the Piston Cup and gaining the title of the first rookie to do so?" He immediately eased up, becoming more like the racer he was known to be.

"Incredible, the best part I was that I was surrounded by friends and family while doing so. It doesn't hurt that I had an incredible crew of people who took their personal time to help train me."

"Now what everyone really wants to know, is how did you get your crew chief?"

"Long story, but basically boils down to the point where I just asked him to be and had too good of an argument for him to turn my request." He looked and sounded smug by the fact.

"Thank you for the moment of your time. We hope to see you continue to do so well in years to come."

"It was my pleasure, sort of. I hope I can keep it up."


	28. Paralyzed AU- Part 1

I don't think this will be a very big AU, possibly only three parts, but here's a bit of a start.

* * *

"...paralyzed... don't believe you'll ever walk again... you'll be in a wheelchair... a lifetime..."

He was sinking.

His life was over.

He could hear the doctor talking. He could see Henry nodding grimly. But all he could focus on was the word _paralyzed_.

He was paralyzed and they didn't think he'd ever walk again.

He was going to be in a wheelchair for life.

He was done. No more driving, stuck to where a wheelchair could take him.

His future gone in a blink of an eye. There would be no in trying to go back to Piston Cup, he couldn't drive.

He hadn't noticed the doctor leave, or Henry trying to get his attention.

He didn't eat his next couple of meals either. Preferring to sleep as he tried to come to terms of his latest blow.

He was numb to it all.

oOo

It had happened too quickly for him to stop it.

And yet he knew exactly what was happening before he ended up on the floor.

He had been trying to transfer himself over into his wheelchair, when it rolled on him. The breaks hadn't been put on.

He landed on the floor with an uncomfortable thump. The tears came unbidden to his eyes; he held his breath a few seconds to try to stem them. It hadn't hurt, but things like this shouldn't be _that_ hard.

He tried to get into the wheelchair from the floor. Even though he made sure the breaks were put on, the wheelchair still seemed to move too much for him to get up into it.

He thought that maybe trying to get back onto the kitchen chair would be easier. Then if he could get back onto it, he'd be able to transfer himself back into his wheelchair.

After a couple tries of that, he gave up on the kitchen chair and went back to trying to get into the wheelchair. Only for it to _still_ seemingly continue to move on him.

He tried again and again, only pushing the wheelchair closer and closer the wall.

By the time he had gotten it against the wall he was already so tired, frustrated, and embarrassed; not that there was anyone around currently to be embarrassed to by. But he couldn't get into or onto a chair by himself.

He didn't have the strength to even pull himself up to try the wheelchair against the wall. And he could feel another bout of tears starting.

He hated being so helpless.

He missed Ruth.

He couldn't even reach the phone to call Henry for help. Though he did stare at the phone hanging on the wall, at a good height for standing, taunting him from where he was on the floor.

It was pointless; him living here, by himself. He was one person, in a home that used to house five.

And he couldn't even go upstairs.

The tears burned as they fell. He wiped them away. He was so sick and tired of his _new_ way of life.

He wanted his legs back, not the dead weight they had become.

After these tears ended he was able to pull himself over to the couch, but was too tired to try and pull himself up onto it. Instead he pulled off a quilt and pillow and as the tears started again, he allowed himself to cry to sleep.

He didn't know how long he had slept for when he woke up to Henry shaking him.

oXo

He had started to panic when he saw Jesse's wheelchair abandoned, with him nowhere nearby.

That internal panic didn't stop when he found Jesse, on the floor, near the couch. Knowing he would have had to drag himself there, in someway. His brother had obviously made himself as comfortable as he could, having pulled down a pillow and a quilt.

He gently shook his brother awake, calling his name.

The tears started almost immediately as he woke up.

"Let's get you up."

While lifting Jesse onto the couch he couldn't help but think about how light Jesse was and how much that scared him. Jesse seemed to be wasting away. He knew how little his brother was eating, and he didn't like it.

He didn't care what Jesse thought, he was going to hold him for a bit.

He kept his voice soft, vowing to himself to keep in arms reach for as long as Jesse had tears falling. "How long were you down there?"

"I dunno, lost track. I couldn't do it- I couldn't switch chairs. I couldn't get back into or onto any of them."

He let out a heavy sigh as he ran a hand through his hair. "I shouldn't have stayed away so long."

"No." His brother shook his head.

"You can't, won't, and shouldn't have to always be there to pick me up. I need to learn how to solve that on my own. I'm useless Henry, so useless. I can't do half of what I used to do. Sometimes- sometimes I think I'd have been better off dead. I won't be able to drive. I dunno how I'm gunna get any work, or what kind of work it'd be. I can't do nothing for the rest of my life. But what am I gunna do when my legs don't work? What's the point? I can't-"

"Rest. Heal some more first, and start working on your upper body strength. Then you can start wondering about what you're gunna do for work."


	29. Paralyzed AU- Part 2

Well, here's part 2. It shouldn't be quite as heartbreaking as part 1.

* * *

He cursed when he heard and felt the tire go.

It was much too late to be dealing with such things, it's not like he could easily deal with the tire. He'd have to get out his chair before he could do anything about a spare.

He was too tired to even think about doing so now, as it was surely sometime after midnight.

He was just going to sleep in his car and change the tire in the morning when he noticed the lights of a police car flick on. They pulled up behind him and parked. He rolled down his window to talk with the officer who was coming towards him. "Anything I can do for you officer?"

"More like if I can do anything for you? I stopped because I noticed you on the side of the road, and then saw your flat. You're not going to try and take care of that tonight are you?"

"Nope, I was just about to settle for the night."

"In your car?" The raised eyebrows could be more heard than seen.

"Couldn't exactly get anywhere else."

"I could bring you into town and probably get you set up in the motel for the rest of the night. It'd be more comfortable than your car."

"If there's any steps there, my car is just fine."

"There aren't any steps there."

"I'm fine here, really."

"It can still nip down pretty cold in the desert."

"You're not gunna give up are you?"

"No, you're not even that far out of town."

"You'll have to give me a minute here." He rolled his window up and opened the door.

He pulled out his wheelchair, much to the shock of the officer, and transferred himself over to it. People were always surprised to see he needed a wheelchair after seeing him behind the wheel.

He rolled over to the patrol car and looked back at the officer, "are we going, or not?"

oOo

"We could take daddy's car out to get yours..."

"Only if you're driving."

"I don't know how to drive."

"You don't know how to drive?"

"Daddy doesn't think driving is suitable for young ladies."

"Well, I'll just be wheeling myself out there then."

"But couldn't you just drive out there yourself?"

"Miss Piston, the only reason I'm still able to drive _my_ Hornet, is because my brother rigged me up a system so that I can control everything with my hands. I can't drive any other vehicle unless it's modified in a similar way."

oOo

He wheeled himeslf back to his car with Emily Piston walking beside him.

"Can you change a tire by yourself?" She asked tilting her head.

"I can... it just takes longer. Shouldn't you have considered that before we started out?"

oOo

"You seem like you're pretty good at manoeuvring that chair... How long have you had it for?" Asked the officer who picked him up.

"Not long, but you learn quick when that's your only mode of transportation."

oOo

Everyone knew.

Everyone in town knew who he was now. He wasn't going to _be_ just Jesse anymore.

All due to Alexander Piston, who couldn't keep his mouth shut. Couldn't find it in him to pass up the chance to kick him when he's down. Announcing to the town, that he; Jesse Hudson, the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, could no longer walk.

As if that wasn't already obvious.

What he didn't expect was for those in town to rally around him; over Alex, who they would have known longer. Defending him, though they hardly knew him.

"Honey, we can all tell you've had a hard time of it lately. It doesn't matter who you are, he shouldn't be treating you like that sugar. We all come from eccentric backgrounds around here anyway."


	30. Paralyzed AU- Part 3

Well, this is the end of this AU. I'm not likely to come back and play in it anymore than I have already. Could there have been more done with this? Most likely yes, but I have too many AUs I want to share and more involved than this one is. Titanic AU being one that will probably end up being as big as The Slip.

* * *

He wasn't happy about having this arrogant kid stuck sulking around town.

If it weren't for Sally, he would have continued throwing him out of town.

The kid was already proving to be more trouble than he was worth. Trying to speed through the road work, creating more of a mess than he had the night before.

He figured he knew a way to put the kid in his place. A race around the Butte.

Kid probably didn't have a clue how to turn on dirt, and that was something he could use to his advantage. He wouldn't even have to try hard. He shouldn't even have to give himself away.

For only the second time since he arrived in Radiator Springs, he issued the challenge of a race around Willie's Butte.

The other having been to Alex, whom he beat. Even paralyzed he was a better driver than his brother-in-law.

Everyone who had been there for his beating Alex, was chattering about how the racer was going to be shown up.

He wasn't going to actually race the kid, he'd let him do all the work himself. He should spin out at the first corner, and if he didn't, well he didn't want the kid here anyway.

He could probably rope Stephen to get his kids to help fix the road or at least recommend someone who could, though Lyn might be better for that. It wasn't time to worry about something that likely wouldn't come to pass.

Michael, Luigi, and Guido had set up a starting line, and it felt much like it had all those years ago when Alex accepted the challenge. At the time, he had tore from the track, leaving his brother-in-law in the dust.

This time, much to everyone's confusion, he didn't leave the start line until after the kid took off. Following leisurely behind, much to everyone's surprise.

He had a pretty good view of the hot rod careening into the tulips, leaving the turn spectacularly unturned, as predicted.

"You drive like you fix roads, lousy."

He finished the farce of a race without going over the speed limit for in town.

Now the kid would be sticking around even longer. He hoped he'd be determined enough to just get to work and be done as quick as he could while doing a good job.

That was dashed when the kid's first fit started. It was going to be a long week.

oOo

He cringed at the clatter of the can he kicked. It sounded like it knocked something over, when it went into the garage. There were do not enter signs smattered across the door, but he couldn't leave it having made a mess. So he went in after seeing no one around. He couldn't tell what, if anything had been knocked over with how full and messy the garage was. "Time to clean out the garage buddy." That's when he caught sight of the gold through the dust, spotting not one, not two, but three Piston Cups, all engraved with the name Jesse Hudson. "Whoa-" The grumpy old wheelchair bound judge and doctor was- "I know you couldn't drive, I didn't know you couldn't read."

"No way, _**you're**_ Jesse Hudson? The Fabulous Hudson Hornet!?"

"What's it to you?"

oOo

"Did you know Doc's a famous race car driver?" Everyone in the cafe burst into laughter. "It's true! He has three Piston Cups!"

"Course it's true, honey. It's the fact that Jesse thinks that too many of us know already."

"Ay, none of us probably _would_ know if it hadn't been for his brother-in-law absolutely terrorizing him." Ramone said.

oOo

"The wreck left me paralyzed... _They_ didn't do _**their**_ jobs, and _I'm_ the one who ended up paying for it."

"What you mean?"

" _I_ didn't just lose control of the car, what we found out months later, when my brother started fixing the Hornet up, was a large driftwood log, caught up in the chassis. I've been stuck in a chair for the last 50 odd years, because someone didn't make sure the track was properly groomed and raked."

* * *

I think you can probably fill in the gaps from there on what all happened.


	31. Everything Part 3

Technically this takes place between part one and two. So I know this was long awaited for some of you, I hope it was worth the wait.

* * *

"Are you guys sure don't want anything?" Lightning asked still sceptical on whether or not they were being honest with him. They were Doc's family, not him, and yet he was the one everything was left to.

"Yes Lightning, I helped him with his will. I had plenty of time to grab anything that Lyn and I wanted. Not to mention the days we spent with him going through stuff." Stephen assured him.

"And we did get everything we wanted. Even Bernie, though he never was as close to Aunt Emily and Uncle Jesse as we were. We would refer to them as mom and dad, while our actual parents ended up being the more formal mother and father." Lynda added to her brother's assurances.

"Does Bernard know you're still calling him that?" Raising an eyebrow at her.

"Really Stephen, that's what you took out of it." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Of course he knows, because I still call him Bernie to his face. He doesn't care for it and depending on how annoyed with me he is, he will scold me using my name." She went into an impression of her other sibling with her hands on her hips.

" 'Lynda Ellenore Piston, stop calling me that.' " She looked back at him again.

"He refuses to call me Weathers when I call him Bernie, but I still get away with it because I'm the youngest." She gave a slight wink.

"Stephen is the oldest and a good big brother in listening to his wishes." Lynda patted her brother's lap, fully aware that he would have had no reference otherwise.

"The point being, Bernard doesn't want anything and none of us need anything that is Piston Cup related." Stephen said bringing the topic back to point while rolling his eyes.

"We have enough of that from our father and grandfather, plus I have everything that Strip has collected over the years."

"You'll enjoy all of that much more than we would anyways. Then we also know it's going to be left in good hands. You're practically family anyway." Stephen said.

"Really?" He asked.

"I don't think you realize just how good you were for him. When dad lost mom, Sally had to drag him to Flo's after I left. You gave him a good challenge and verbal sparring partner, someone he could match wits against. Which, while he would never admit to missing, or needing that kind of challenge; matching wits with mom was something they would do all the time." Lynda said.

"Dad treated you like family, he really cared for you. You got him doing things that mom wished she could have seen or gotten him to do."

"She would have loved seeing him back involved with Piston Cup. She knew how much he loved racing and how hurt he was by it. He'd hardly talk about it when we were kids."

"Never?"

"Not never, hardy, and we pretty much always who he was-"

"Stephen, we always knew he raced, not that he was The Fabulous Hudson Hornet."

"Yes Lyn, I do remember when Bernard found out from Strip's school report and finding _you_ researching both father and Uncle Jesse."

"Wait, so The King Strip Weathers went to school with you guys?"

"He went to school with Bernard."

"I didn't know or meet Strip until he was racing. Getting dad to actually talk about _his_ racing was like pulling teeth. He'd tell stories about those he raced with, but anything about himself was sparse. We had to call dad, Uncle Aaron in public-"

"Extremely hard when you're little, but we tried our best. Lyn always liked hearing stories about Louise Nash when he did tell stories."

"I liked hearing about how a woman was winning races." She shrugged.

"And beat father."

"That was always the best part."

"You guys really don't care much for your father, do you?"

"It's hard to when he pretty much abandoned us during his and our mom's divorce, and never took much interest in our lives. Our mother isn't much better, a little, but not a lot."

"Bernie is closer to our parents, he spent more time with them growing up than we did. Don't know how that worked out."

"Probably because he'd cling to mother and father, not wanting to visit Uncle Jesse and Aunt Emily. ... There was one time Lyn was so mad at father that she wouldn't even speak to Uncle Jesse when she was dropped off. It had been something building for awhile, though I was in law school at the time, I had gained some of her ire trying to be a nice older brother."

"He offered to teach me to drive when father wouldn't and I didn't like that. Uncle Jesse ended up teaching me to drive."

He blinked, as his mouth fell open in a little oh. "Doc taught you to drive?"

"He did, he taught Aunt Emily too."

"So, you learned to drive from the Fabulous Hudson Hornet?"

"Yes. This is the best part about you finding dad and getting him back into Piston Cup is that we can finally, speak openly about him."

"It's better than having anything of his. We can talk about him without hiding behind any guise."


	32. A Dramatic Entrance (A New AU)

So, this is a little bit different, but that's all I'm going to say about it.

* * *

He almost hadn't recognized her, when she entered into the Cozy Cone lobby with Michael.

They had only locked eyes for a moment, before she turned, saying something to Michael, baffling him.

She was gone before they could stop her, leaving them both staring after her.

He hadn't seen her since she was brought in to sign the paperwork, breaking her contract to race in Piston Cup. The contract she had lied in, claiming to be a man.

She was looking much better than she had been in that meeting. She was clearly moving better with how quick she left the lobby.

His gut clenched.

He really should have fought harder to push back that meeting. No one had realized in almost four years, no one outside the know would have realized it if they waited a few months more.

"Well, she _had_ been fine to stay here before seeing you. You know her or something that she ran like that?" Michael leaned against the counter he was behind.

"Or something. We... we were well aware of each other. I believe she may have spoken more with my brother." He tapped the stack of papers he had pulled out, preparing to put them away.

"Well, that definitely explains it." He tapped the top of the counter. "I'm going to go check on her. I don't like the thought of a young lady like her changing a tire by herself at this time of night."

"Would you mind if I go instead?"

"Do you really think that'd be a good idea?"

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"Do you really want the answer to that?"

"No, probably not. I would like the chance to talk to her though, if she leaves, I might never get the chance to otherwise. Where is her car about?"

He gestured in the direction of her car.

"Couple of miles out of town, opposite way of Wheel Well. Are you sure you want to check on her?"

"I'll be fine."

"I'll send out a search party in the morning if you're not back by then."

He rolled his eyes.

"Shouldn't you be going back out on your patrol?"

"Like you're one to talk Mr. paperwork late at night."

"It needed to get done."

"Ah huh... you going to go right away?"

"I will once I lock up."

"Alright, good night Erik, and stay safe."

"You too."

It didn't take him long to put away the blank paperwork he had dug out, turn off the lights that needed to be, and lock the doors behind him.

He had a vague idea of where she might be, knowing which road Michael meant.  
He slowly drove along the road, keeping a careful lookout, in case he happened upon her still walking out to her car.

He spotted her familiar car before he saw her. She was already in the middle of changing her tire by the light of a large flashlight.

He parked his car in front of hers, facing his headlights towards where she was changing the tire so she might see better.

She stopped what she doing and shielded her eyes against his added light. He turned off his engine, leaving his lights on.

After she saw him get out, she returned to what she was doing.

"I'm not going back to town." She said without looking up.

"I'm not here to convince you to go back to town. Just lend a helping hand so you're not out by yourself for long."

She started at his voice, turning towards him, before glaring at him.

"I don't need any of _your_ help. Feel free to leave."

"It's not something I feel comfortable doing, leaving a young woman such as yourself out here alone." He gestured to the area around them.

"I can take care of myself." She snapped at him, standing up.

"You're not pretending to be a man out here. This isn't like the circuit Miss Hudson." He snapped back, coming around his car door, a bit closer to her, after shutting his door.

She let out a mocking type of fake laugh. "Why do you care? You certainly didn't before, so cut the crap."

"That's not true..."

"Well you sure have a way of showing it."

"I want to help-" He started toward her.

"Stay back Piston! I have protection!" He stopped moving towards her and threw his hands up in the air upon seeing the gun she whipped out, waving it around, glinting in the light from his car's headlights.

"Whoa! No need to be hasty."

"Stay back! Don't come any closer, or you'll lose a kneecap." She pointed the gun vaguely towards his knee.

He softened his tone. "I'm not coming any closer. You can go back to changing your tire. I'll stay right here and not move until you're done."

"No. You're going to back up slowly, get in your car, and leave me the hell alone."

He crossed his arms. "I'm not going to leave you alone out here."

"You will if you don't want to get shot. Get in your car, Piston." She sounded deadly calm. He shook his head.

"You know I can't do that. Especially after everything you've been through."

He saw her sag, dropping the gun from where it had been pointed.

"HA! Everything I've been through?! Everything _I've_ been through, was done at the _mercy_ of the sport. _At_ your hands. I lost _everything_. I lost my sister, my TWIN sister! I lost my identity! I lost my career! I lost what prestige that I had gained! I lost nearly an entire year of my life. During which, I was thoroughly humiliated! News flash Piston! I'm no longer part of your responsibilities. Stay back!" She pointed the gun at him again.

He decided to start towards her, intent on taking the gun from her.

"Miss Hudson, I'm coming to get your gun. You are starting to sound frantic, I don't want you to do anything you might regret." He still had his hands up as he slowly started forward.

"Stay back! This is my last warning."

He still continued forward, not quite to the half way point between the two cars.

"I'm not going to hurt you-" The shot rang out before he realized what happened.

He wasn't sure if he cried out in pain at all, but he did crumple.

He scooted back towards his car using his good leg.

Only once he felt his car against his back did he check his leg. He let out a hiss as he felt his wound.

When he brought up his hand, it was covered in blood. It seemed like it was just a graze, and not a bullet hole, on the outer side of his lower left thigh, but he wasn't sure. He'd have to see if he had something he could stop the bleeding with.

He glanced back towards her as he got up to open his driver door.

It took him a moment to spot her. She had sat down on the ground in front of her one tire, knees up to her chest, arms on her knees holding the gun between her legs pointed at the ground.

They weren't that far from town, the shot was sure to have been heard. Someone would be coming out to investigate.

It was his lucky night in one way, he did have something he was able to find quickly to wrap his wound in, a clean towel.

He was very shaky, even though he was sitting in his driver's seat.

He was wrapping his wound when Michael rolled up, and came over to him.

"Are you bleeding?" He asked, eyebrows raised.

"I was shot, it was my own fault. I was warned many times to not get any closer."

"Are you okay?"

"I think I will be."

"What in tarnation were you doing to get shot?"

"I'm pretty sure it has everything to do with the fact that I'm a Piston. ...I don't want her charged, I'm sure she thought it was self defence and I have no desire to put her through anything more than she's already been through."

"Okay, but we still have to take her in." He nodded in understanding.

"You going to go to the hospital for that?"

"I will, but I think I'll just get someone like Ramone to drive me. You'll have to drive me back into town though. I don't trust myself to drive."

"Alright. Has she tried to run at all?"

He shook his head. "No, she's stayed in the same spot. I haven't seen her move positions... I think she's in as much shock as I am."

"So much for being fine. Guess she didn't want to talk to you then."


	33. A Dramatic Entrance (Part 2)

Here's the next little bit, a touch repetitive, but for a reason.

* * *

She couldn't believe she shot him.

She shot Erik Piston.

It was the only thing going through her mind.

She shot Erik Piston.

Out of all the people in the world, she shot _Erik_ Piston.

She had sank to the ground and leaned back against her one tire, staring at disgust at the gun she held in her hands. Henry never should have given it to her.

She shot _Erik Piston_ with it.

She was going to jail; he was certain to press charges. As if there hadn't been enough things that had gone wrong in her life already.

She didn't know how much she injured him, but he hadn't left yet.

She had shot him.

What _was_ she thinking?

Why had she panicked enough to shoot him? She couldn't believe she had shot him. What had she been thinking?

She had only wanted him to leave her alone.

She didn't need his help. She could take care of herself.

She could change her own tire. Something that would have just been accepted when she was pretending to be a man. She wouldn't have needed babysitting then, even if it was late at night.

Why of all places for a flat tire to happen, was it where a _Piston_ happened to be. She was trying to _hide_ from anything Piston related, and now she _shot_ one of them.

One of the important ones. _Erik Piston_.

She didn't hear the car, or notice the flashing lights. She hadn't noticed the crunch of boots on gravel either.

"Miss... Miss... Miss..." He put a hand on her shoulder, making her jump and finally hear what he was saying. "I need you to give me your gun. Will you give me your gun?"

She finally tore her gaze away from the weapon in her hands, looking at the officer crouched beside her, the same one who came across her earlier. Before looking back down at the gun she was still holding.

She thrust it towards him, and he gingerly took it from her grasp before bagging it.

"I'm going to need you to come with me Miss. Just until we can get everything figured out."

She offered her hands out to be cuffed.

"What are you doing?"

She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Aren't you going to handcuff me?"

"Are you going to try to run or fight me?"

She shook her head.

"Then if you're going to come willingly, I don't see the need to."

He offered her a hand to help her up and ushered her into the back of his patrol car.

Erik Piston was already sitting in the passenger side in the front.

She didn't speak as she was driven back into this town for the second time tonight, blankly staring out the window.

Piston was dropped off first before she was taken to the jail and placed in a cell.

"Do you have anyone to call Miss?"

"Hudson, Jessica Hudson. My brother is back east."

"Do you want to phone him now? Or wait until it's morning?"

"In the morning."

"I'll let you try to get some rest before then."

She laid down on the cot in the cell she was placed in, but she couldn't sleep.

All she could do was keep replaying the fact that she shot Erik Piston.

The longer and more she thought about it, the more her head hurt.

She doubted that Henry had actually expected her to shoot anyone. Let alone a _Piston_.

Her thoughts kept her awake, all while tossing and turning, until finally giving up and just sitting on the edge of the cot.

Henry was going to be so disappointed in her.

Why had he thought it was a good idea to give her a gun.

She knew he wanted her to be safe, but she could have been safe without a gun. Without a gun, she wouldn't have shot anyone.

She was exhausted by the time she got to make her phone call.

She was lead into a place that had to be someone's office to make her phone call in private.

She didn't understand why she wasn't being treated harsher, she had just shot someone only hours ago.

She tried Henry at the garage first. The phone rang about five times before he picked up.

"Smokey's-"

"Henry..."

"Jess? What's wrong! You sound exhausted. How long were you driving for?"

"Too long-"

"You can't keep doing that to yourself. Where are you now?"

"In Arizona, in a town called Radiator Springs... Henry... Henry... I shot _Erik Piston_. _In the leg."_

"You did what now?"

"I shot _Erik Piston_. In the leg."

"The full story Jessica, now."

The tears came as she described how the night before went.

How she wound up with a flat tire not far out of town and had been picked up by an officer then taken into town for the night. Only to come face to face with Erik Piston, leading her to immediately turning and nearly run back to her car to change her flat tire not wanting to hang around where there were Pistons.

"He just wouldn't leave me alone, and kept coming towards me... I had warned him to stop, to go away, to get back in his car and drive away, but he wouldn't..."

"Shh, Jess, it was self defence. You felt threatened and you protected yourself. Do you want me to come out there?"

"No... they haven't even charged me yet. They're just holding me."

She didn't know how long of a conversation she had with Henry, but she knew it was much longer than five minutes.

They had let her have a complete conversation with her brother.

She didn't know what to think when she was led back to her cell.


	34. A Dramatic Entrance (Part 3)

Here's the next instalment.

* * *

When he opened the door to the apartment above his mother's restaurant, he was greeted to the phone ringing. He sighed as he picked up the phone rather than ignoring it and going to bed.

"Hello, Erik Piston speaking." He glanced down to his watch, wondering when he'd be able to crawl into bed.

"Hello Emery. I'm glad I could catch you today. How are you? You sound tired."

A bit of a sigh escaped as he ran a hand down his face, pausing a moment to rub his eyes.

"That's because I _am_ , Nanna. I didn't get any sleep last night. So I've been better." He felt like his limbs were weighted down with lead with how tired he was.

"Emery, you weren't doing paperwork all night were you?"

He glanced back at his watch as he shifted, playing with the phone cord.

"No Nanna, I wasn't."

"Then why didn't you get any sleep last night?" He shifted uncomfortably, dropping his one hand near his wound.

"I was- I can't believe I'm saying this... but- I... was shot earlier this morning." He cringed and held the phone away from his ear at the volume of his grandmother.

"You were WHAT! EMERY! You were shot! What happened? Are you all right?"

"Nanna! It's okay, it's not serious. It's just my leg, my own fault, as I was warned multiple times..."

"That makes _no_ difference, Emery. You were _shot_ and you make it sound like it's nothing more than being bumped into at the store. Why was there a gun involved? Where were you? I hope they've been detained-"

He sighed, tugging on the phone's cord a bit.

"Yes Nanna, they've been detained. It wasn't some random thug. It was before sunrise, just outside of town. I was offering to help her change her tire. Help that she didn't want from me. She was feeling threatened by me, so she shot."

"Emery Piston, _why_ would a young lady feel threatened enough to shoot you."

He found himself wincing at how deadly her voice went.

"Possibly because she knows Alex, or simply the fact that I'm a Piston... Nanna, it was Jessica Hudson who shot me. I don't think I had to do anything to make her feel unsafe. She already did."

His grandmother fell silent. He shifted his weight off of his injured leg more and looked at his watch. He hadn't been to bed since the night before which he was regretting. He jumped a little when his Nanna spoke again.

"I'm coming out there."

" _What_?"

"Emery, don't sound so surprised. You're injured. I'm coming out to see you."

"Nanna, I'm fine, _really_."

"I will see that for myself young man. I also want to speak with Miss Hudson."

"Do you think that will be a good idea? I don't think Miss Hudson is going to want another Piston around."

"Nonsense boy, I've made up my mind. I'm coming out there to see you."

"Okay, fine. I know I can't change your mind. I'm going to bed now Nanna."

He rubbed his face once he hung the phone back up. He was too tired to think about the trouble his grandmother could cause when visiting. He was finally going to bed.

oOo

His grandmother was studying the stitches he had gotten to close his wound.

" _See_ Nanna, it isn't that bad. It only grazed me. I got a couple of stitches and I'm _fine_."

"Yes, I see that. Now tell me the whole story from the beginning Emery." He let out a noisy sigh as he explained everything that he knew from the moment Jessica Hudson walked into the lobby of The Cozy Cone Motel until he came back from the hospital. Including the fact that she was being held for a couple of days until everything could be sorted out.

He huffed after finishing his explanation.

"Nanna I didn't realize..."

"How broken she truly is?"

He nodded. She patted his good leg's knee.

"The poor thing doesn't need the guilt of shooting someone, no matter how threatened she felt. I'm going to visit her."

"I still don't see how that's a good idea."

oOo

"Miss Hudson, you have a visitor."

" _Who_?" Her bewilderment clear in her tone.

She couldn't think of any one who would come to visit her. She had asked Henry to remain in Thomasville. He didn't need to come all this direction for her.

The different policemen didn't count, particularly not Officer Carwood; who was the one who had brought her in.

She didn't include the young woman who brought her meals from her restaurant as a proper visitor either. Flo still had a purpose with bringing her food, though she did try to chat with her.

She hadn't see Erik Piston since she shot him, but wouldn't consider him a visitor either; if he came.

That was the end of the list of who she could think would have some reason to visit her.

The officer; who was not Carwood this time, shifted his weight before answering.

"Mrs. Piston."

Her stomach dropped.

Was it his mother or had he gotten married since her accident had happened. She didn't like the thought of either option.

As far as she had been aware though, he hadn't been married when she was racing. He never brought a plus one to the banquets and she couldn't remember seeing a wedding ring, let alone hearing about a wife.

She was lead back to the same room that she always phoned Henry in; with the same big wooden desk and the same clunky phone on it.

The only difference in the room was the older lady sitting behind it.

Her white hair perfectly coiffed, wearing pearls around her neck, with white gloved hands folded delicately on the table.

This wasn't his mother or a wife; it might be someone even worse- his grandmother.

How could she forget about his grandmother.

She sat on the edge of her chair, feeling underdressed in comparison.

She held her hands on her lap, looking at them, unable to meet the other woman's gaze. She could feel her staring what felt like daggers into her soul as she tried not to squirm under the scrutiny.

"I hear you shot my grandson? You know, the other one probably could have used it more than Emery."

She jerked up her head staring at the older woman with wide eyes, trying to not let her jaw drop open.

Did she just say that Alex could have used being shot? She must have misheard. Right?

"You- you're not upset?"

"Oh, I'm very upset. First I was extremely worried over Emery having been shot while he's brushing it off, wanting to make sure the person who did so was caught. Then as he explained, still leaving out your name, that he had been shot because you felt threatened, well, I was quite upset with him for putting a young lady into a position they felt threatened. Then finally after he explained why you could feel threatened by him, he finally told me it was you, and I became quite worried over both of you."

She slunk down in her chair, unable to meet her eyes again. She couldn't sit still.

How could she still be concerned over her? She had hurt her grandson, turned her out of her home when she dropped by after she learned she was a Piston, rather rudely too.

Yet, here she was again, checking on her, worrying over her, when she didn't even know her.

"Why? Why would you worry over me when we don't know each other?"

"My dear, you have lost your sister, been in a terrible accident, lost your career, which you can not claim as your own anymore, within a span of two years. That is not easy to handle. I just want to give you the support that you need. Besides, you've always been my favourite racer who was out there. Men need to be taken down a notch at times, whether they know it or not."

* * *

I love Nanna so much. She can be so sassy at times.


End file.
